2020 promise to children Luncheon

Join us on Thursday,February 20,2020, at St. David's Episcopal Church in downtown Austin from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM for Camp Fire’s premier event of the season – the Promise to Children Luncheon!

Our Awardees

This year we are again honoring three people who have made - and continue to make a significant impact in our communities by connecting youth and families to nature:

The Thrive Award for outstanding community commitment; our Camp Fire Legacy Award for making a lasting contribution to our council; and, our Promise to Children Award for exemplifying our approach to empowering youth.

Please join us in congratulating the amazing and selfless advocates for youth and nature.

Promise to Children Award

Molly Stevens is Founder and Principal of Moontower Coaching and Consulting, a practice dedicated to individual and organizational fulfillment and excellence. After 13 years, she retired in June of 2019 from her role as CEO and Executive Director of Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center and is the co-founder of the Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin (CiNCA), now a core program of Westcave.

Molly has been dedicated to environmental advocacy and natural resource protection for nearly 30 years. She served 13 years with EDF’s Texas regional office as director of development and then regional managing director. Prior to that, she was the State Development Director for the Nature Conservancy of Texas. She is the founding Board Chair for Families in Nature (FiN) and the current Chair of Texas Children in Nature. Molly recently served on the Board of Directors for the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)where she chaired the Governance Committee.

Molly has traveled extensively throughout the world and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. She holds a BA from Olivet College in Political Science and Communications. She is married to Sam Householder and together they have two sons, Henry and Patrick – both in their early 20s.

Thrive Award

Anne Muller is the Outdoor Learning Specialist for the Austin Independent School District. She is passionate about creating systems to help green our school yards, empowering teachers to take their lessons outdoors, and connecting children to nature.

Anne has been with Austin ISD for 12 years as both teacher and now Outdoor Learning Specialist. She got her BA in American Studies at Mount Holyoke College and her MA in Science Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas, Arlington. Anne is also a mother of two and loves spending time outside with her family.

Legacy Award

Mina Loomis has been a Camp Fire Central Texas volunteer since 1989. She led Camp Fire clubs for her three children, shepherded eleven youth WoHeLo Award recipients, served on the Camp Fire Central Texas Board of Directors 1999-2001, and, since 2002, has volunteered as Coordinator for the Camp Fire Backpacking Club. The Backpacking Club offers weekend and longer backpacking trips to Camp Fire youth and families.

Ms. Loomis loves the outdoors and believes unstructured time in natural outdoor settings is one of the best ways to learn and grow. She and her husband, former Camp Fire CT President Robert Norris, are avid long-distance backpackers.

Before taking early retirement, Ms. Loomis worked as Managing Attorney of the Legal Hotline for Older Texans at Texas Legal Services Center, and at the Office of the Students’ Attorney at the University of Texas at Austin. Her interests in the outdoors and biology led her to several years of graduate study in Botany at the University of Texas at Austin. She has also volunteered with Austin Area Homeschoolers and with the natural building education group Design~Build~Live. She currently works at REI in downtown Austin, outfitting backpackers and campers and teaching in the REI Outdoor School. She is a 2014 recipient of the REI Anderson Award.

Ms. Loomis has a BA in Anthropology from Reed College and a JD from the University of Texas School of Law. .

Master Of Ceremonies

Margaret Lamar is a leader in the children and nature movement and currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Cibolo Nature Center & Farm, a hub of environmental policy, education and land stewardship on 160 acres in the Texas Hill Country. She leads a team to provide nearly 15,000 children annually experiences in nature on a beautiful 160 acres in theTexas Hill Country. Margaret supports the Cibolo teams in executing strong nature- based education programs in the Cibolo Nature Preschool, in K-12 education programs, and with families, landowners and community leaders.

She was recently the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for the Children & Nature Network where she worked in more than 18 cities across the U.S. to support citywide efforts to ensure that children have equitable opportunities to connect to nature in their everyday lives.

For over 25 years, she has been a champion for children’s literacy and educational success and for the past 8 years, her work to connect children to nature has created groundbreaking programs that promote access to nature in cities to improve educational performance, mental health and active outdoor physical activity for children and families.

Margaret lives in San Antonio, Texas where you can most often find her and her sons exploring creeks, rivers or trails together.

Sponsorships and Registration

Vital to every successful community are the partnerships between corporations and non-profit organizations. The work that we do impacts everyone in our community. We have an opportunity to work together to make an even greater impact on the youth of Central Texas.

Platinum Sponsors $10,000

Supports one year of Afterschool programming for 20 Camp Fire kids

- Prominent logo recognition on event signage, program, video, and invitations

- Prominent, year‐round logo placement on Camp Fire website, Annual Report, and newsletter

- Special recognition in program including verbal acknowledgement by emcee

- Complimentary table of eight

- A Camp Fire Experience: a customized site tour to a Camp Fire kids program

Gold Sponsors $5,000

Supports Camp Fire Summer Camp scholarship program

- Logo recognition on event signage, program, and video

- Year‐round logo placement on Camp Fire website, Annual Report, and newsletter

- Special recognition in program including verbal acknowledgement by emcee