ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The blooming dogwood tree is the state flower of North Carolina. Dogwood Alliance, a climate action group, is working to protect it and the rest of the forests of the Southern United States.
Dogwood Alliance is unfurling the latest of their forestry fundraisers at 7 p.m., Friday, August 9 at Highland Brewing Company, located at 12 Old Charlotte Highway in Asheville.
The fundraiser, Woods & Wilds Annual Storytelling Event, combines activism, music and stories to create an evening centered around honoring forests and educating community.
Kimala Luna, Advancement Outreach & Recruitment Manager at Dogwood Alliance, explained that Woods & Wilds is an opportunity for Dogwood Alliance to remind not just the public but also itself about the importance of southern forests.
“Oftentimes we focus on the ‘how’ of doing stuff, especially working in the environmental nonprofit sector. We’re looking at how we can stop industrial logging from happening on a grand scale,” Luna said. “But we forget to take a minute to appreciate the ‘why’ of it.”
According to Luna, that ‘why’ is multifaceted for Dogwood Alliance. The group wants to highlight the resources that forests contain, certainly. However, there is also an intangible reason the organization feels preventing industrial logging is so important.
“We’re part of nature, not separate from it,” Luna remarked. “When we log the forests, what we’re losing is this really necessary need that forests provide that’s like a regenerative space to feel connected and to reflect.”
The regenerative space that Woods & Wilds is attempting to create Friday night will include stories from Richie Harding, DeWayne Barton, Hannah Jeffries, Safiya Myers and Holly Paar, as well as performances by Western N.C. rapper Virtuous and soul-funk band Datrian Johnson & The Family Tree.
The storytellers are carefully selected each year, Luna said.
“It’s a preordained setlist of storytellers. It’s pretty intentionally chosen based on the narrative that we want to tell for that year,” Luna explained. “This year, we’re really trying to focus on unity, coming together, putting differences aside to come together for larger causes.”
That narrative comes together naturally according to the Dogwood Alliance outreach manager.
“The cool part about Woods & Wilds is that all these stories are really one story, right?” Luna said. “We are all connected to nature.”
Woods & Wilds is a free event and open to the public, but a suggested donation of $25 can be made at the door of Highland Brewing or on the Dogwood Alliance website at www.dogwoodalliance.org/woods-wilds-rsvp-2024.