Farewell Sophie Downey!
We wish you the best, Sophie!
After five years of service, FMR's outreach and volunteer coordinator Sophie Downey is moving on.
Sophie's hard work and efforts brought thousands of metro residents to natural areas to help restore habitat and strengthen community connections to local natural areas and parks.
She was instrumental in expanding the reach of our volunteer programs across the Twin Cities, including founding FMR's BIPOC River Stewards program.
Sophie deeply valued volunteers and their contributions. She knew many volunteers by name, and despite organizing dozens of public events annually, she always found the time to tend to important details, such as making sure each SuperVolunteer was sent the right-sized T-shirt.
We have so much gratitude for her dedication to improving our river and our metro communities. We're happy to hear that she'll have a window overlooking the river at her new office at the University of Minnesota.
... And sorry, Sophie, we couldn't help ourselves
Just as Sophie took the time to send photo albums to volunteers after every event, we thought we'd assemble a few highlights of her time with FMR: great Kernza bakeoff, lobbying with Water Action Day at the Minnesota Capitol, organizing a DIY Earth Day Cleanup during the covid lockdown, and being a welcoming face and partner in restoration at hundreds of outdoor events.
