The 31st state of the community luncheon 

The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County–a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government held their State of the Community gathering at the Adorni Center in Eureka. 

This was an opportunity to discuss the impacts on the community from various groups. Keynote speaker, Jennifer Savage from the Surfrider Foundation discussed the empowerment an organization or person gets by being able to address the realm of politics. 

“The theme of the speech is impact, right, and one of the things that I really hope people are able to take away is just the importance of engaging,” said Jennifer Savage, Senior Manager of Surfrider Foundation.

Savage adds people have opposing viewpoints while engaging in political discussion.  That’s why groups need to have that opportunity to engage in democracy.   

At the event, Jeff Lamoree, the Sequoia Park Zoo Foundation President, and Lori Dengler, earthquake and tsunami expert were the day’s honorees. Both have had a tremendous impact on the North Coast community. 

“I feel fantastic and I’m so pleased that they decided to take a look at the foundation and see how well we’ve done which is phenomenal,” Lamoree said. “All you need to do is take a stroll through the zoo and see the improvements that have been made through our fundraising efforts.”

“It’s an incredible honor, but it really is more than just me,” Dengler said. “It’s all of the folks in the county who have worked really hard now for decades on making our community resilient.”

First District County Supervisor, Rex Bohn, spoke on behalf of the county board of supervisors on the state of affairs of the county is involved in. The annual League of Women’s Voters of Humboldt County takes these community luncheons as an opportunity to honor community leaders and to inform the audience of current issues and policies.