Dan Bryant is co-founder and currently Executive Director of SquareOne Villages, a non-profit that provides transitional shelter and permanent housing for the homeless using villages of tiny housing.

Dan is a native Oregonian who has lived across the country and in Europe before coming to Eugene in 1991 as the Senior Minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from whence he retired in April of 2020.  He has been an outspoken advocate on homelessness and other social issues for which he has received awards from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, the Jewish Federation of Lane County, Catholic Community Services, United Way of Lane County, the Eugene Human Rights Commission, City Club of Eugene, the Lane County chapter of the National Association for the Mentally Ill, the Nobel Peace Laureate Project and Volunteers in Medicine. He and Judy Bryant, his spouse of 40 years, have two children, a daughter who is an assistant camera operator in L.A. and a son who is a physicist at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC.

Visit their website HERE.

Heather Quaas-Annsa is Director of Philanthropy at Community Supported Shelters. As Director of Philanthropy for Community Supported Shelters, Heather is responsible for mid-level and major gift fundraising, donor relations, planned giving, public relations, marketing, and advocacy. She leads the Development staff, supports the Development Committee, and assists with donor stewardship and event planning. Heather is also the liaison for the CSS Board of Directors.

In 2011, Heather and her then-3-year-old son struggled with housing stability and food insecurity after she escaped an abusive marriage. After receiving support from local nonprofits, Heather was able to rebuild her life. In 2014, Heather received a Master’s in Business Administration, focusing on project management while working full-time and raising her three children. This degree’s coursework allowed her to expand her public relations and communications knowledge, strategic and tactical planning, and organizational management. Heather was recognized in 2017 as a “20 under 40 Rising Business Star” for her commitment to career excellence and making the Eugene-Springfield area a better place for all residents. In 2019, Heather became a Certified Fund Raising Executive- one of only 72 in all of Oregon!

Visit their website HERE.

Adam Woods is a 57 year old cancer survivor who has been unhoused for 2 years due to economic reasons. He has been in the CSS program for close to 2 years. Before his cancer he was an HVAC specialist for 35 years and was a professional musician most all his life.  He has been working diligently with the local housing programs to secure permanent, stable housing. Through his personal experiences, it has been important to him to advocate and outreach to help others who are unhoused.  

Timothy Williams has been doing community outreach in Eugene along with his wife and four children. Timothy’s family decided to reside at the Nite Inn on 6th Avenue between Chambers and Polk streets, meeting, feeding, and continuing the “real” conversations with those in need. This became their outreach to the disinherited in Eugene, Oregon; doing this work from the hotel for 4 1/2 years.

Carly Boyer (they/she) is a Program Manager for Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network (OrCAN), currently leading the 3rd annual Climate Resilience Training for Oregon Agriculture Professionals. She is a 4th generation Oregonian and has stewarded her family’s Century farm in Polk County, for the past 22 years. They have a degree in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon, with over 5 years of experience in the non-profit sector. Carly is a Land Advocacy Fellow with National Young Farmers Coalition and serves as a Board Member for Rogue Farm Corps and Rewild Portland. They are passionate about the intersection of agriculture, conservation, and equitable access to land, water and food.

Visit the Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network website HERE.

Jennifer Denson is the Executive Director for Burrito Brigade. “I have lived in Eugene most of my life. I got involved after seeing Facebook request for more volunteers when Burrito Brigade was in a home in the Whit (June 2014). I have always wanted to help others and this is a great way to give back. Bonus is, I get to share this wonderful project with my brothers Charles and Steve.”

Visit The Burrito Brigade website HERE.

Melissa Fery is an Associate Professor for the Oregon State University Extension Service serving small farms in the southern Willamette Valley. She has been supporting Oregon agriculture in the areas of soil health, livestock and pasture production, land stewardship and direct marketing for over 20 years. Melissa and her family live on a small farm in Lane County where she enjoys a rural lifestyle, growing plants and raising animals.

Visit the OSU Extension Services Lane County website HERE.

Genevieve Schaack is the Executive Director of Willamette Farm & Food Coalition. Having grown up in her parents’ restaurant in Chicago, Genevieve began to share the love of food with those around her and became increasingly inspired to alleviate the inequity of access across the food system. Starting at Food Not Bombs and free diners in back home, when she moved to Oregon 20 years ago she began to look more critically at where our food comes from.

As the Executive Director of Willamette Farm and Food Coalition, she is delighted to work in support of small, sustainable farmers while increasing access to locally grown food for all residents in Lane County and beyond.

Visit the Willamette Farm & Food Coaltion website HERE.

Shelley Schuler, Farmer & Food Artisan, is all about radical sharing of that farm to table love. Her jam is capturing flavor and food waste from the field as ferments, sauces and preserves. She’s a long standing supporter and activist in the local food scene and definitely wants to make you dinner. Shelley started Moondog’s Farm with her partner Dan four years ago and launched Lane County Bounty at the onset of the pandemic to help our community get access to the highest quality food the county has to offer safely and conveniently.

Visit the Moondog’s Farm Facebook page HERE, and the Lane County Bounty website HERE.

Kara Smith, FOOD For Lane County’s Food Resource Developer since early 2020, has been involved in anti-hunger work for over a decade. She has a graduate degree from the University of Oregon specializing in Political Science, Public Policy and Food Systems and a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management. Prior to earning her degree, she held a year-long internship with the local Lane County Food Policy Council. In 2009, she began her FOOD For Lane County (FFLC) career working with over 150 organizations as the Agency Relations Coordinator. In 2013, she assumed the role of FFLC’s Community Engagement, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator. While in this position, she empowered FFLC partners and individuals across Lane County in successful advocacy work at the local, state and federal level. She served as the co-chair of the Oregon Food Bank Statewide Network Advocacy Committee and continues to serve on the state of Oregon’s Hunger Task Force. In her current role, Kara is responsible for creating and supporting partnerships that foster food donations to FFLC and the communities we serve. She develops solicitation strategies for donations, and coordinates logistics and processing of donations with FFLC’s Operations Team. She also leads communications with local food business partners on the impact their donations have on FFLC’s mission, while providing guidance and training to staff, donor partners and volunteers.

Visit the FOOD For Lane County website HERE.

Bob Emmons has served on numerous Lane County committees and task forces over many years. He was a founding member of Sustainable Eugene Economic Development in 1983 and of Alton Baker Park for All of Us, a group that initiated a city-wide ballot measure in 1986 that protected 165 acres of Eugene’s public open space from a proposed golf course and soccer fields. He served on the Lane Parks Advisory Committee from 1988-93 and served as Chair in 1992. From 1980-95 he coordinated the grass roots development, maintenance and oversight of Scobert Gardens, an edible and native plant park in Eugene’s Whitaker Neighborhood. Beginning in Spring 2017, Emmons served on a task force that crafted a new master plan for Lane County Parks adopted in Fall 2018.
In 1996, Emmons was a founding member of LandWatch Lane County, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the protection of Lane County’s natural areas, open space, farms and forest lands. He has been president of the group since 2004 and edits the LandWatch newsletter, available at www.LandWatch.net. Since 1990 Emmons has been privileged to own, love, live on and steward 65 acres of forest and meadow in the Little Fall Creek Valley, 25 miles east of Eugene.

Jim Gilbert is a farmer and the Executive Producer of the documentary “An Oregon Story”. He is a life-long Oregonian with deep roots in the state. He grew up in Portland and attended Portland State University. In 1979 Jim founded Northwoods nursery, a well-known source of unique fruiting plants adapted to the growing conditions in the Pacific Northwest. In 1982, he moved the nursery from Hood River to the Willamette Valley, where it has grown to 66 acres. After moving he became aware of Oregon’s land use planning program and became the chair of his local Community Planning Organization. He helped defeat a proposed gravel mine on 60 acres of farmland and in 2005, became involved in the successful efforts to blunt the effects of Measure 37, the most serious threat to Oregon’s farmland since the land use planning program was created in 1973.

 Since then, Jim has served on the Board of 1000 Friends of Oregon and was Chair of its Farmer Advisory Committee. He is currently President of Ag for Oregon, a diverse group of Oregon farmers and ranchers who recognize the importance of Oregon’s unique land use planning program for its agricultural industry.

Jim Johnson is currently the Land Use and Water Planning Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Agriculture where he has been employed for over 27 years.   In this role, he is involved in a broad range of land use, water supply and “right to farm” matters both in policy and implementation venues, all from the perspective of agriculture. His professional career has bridged local, state and regional perspectives including positions with Klickitat County, Washington, Wasco County, Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge Commission and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, the State of Oregon’s land use planning agency. While at DLCD, Jim was the lead planner for farm and forest planning. While at the Columbia River Gorge Commission, he was responsible for developing the agriculture and forest land elements of the first Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Management Plan.  Since his early days as a local government planner Jim’s focus has been on land use issues relating to agriculture and forest lands.

Jim currently serves as an elected board member for the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District and the Rivergrove Water District.  He was a member of the City of Lake Oswego Planning Commission for 13-years. Jim earned a MA in geography from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and a BS from Western Oregon University.

Christoffer Gulbrandsen – Danish filmmaker; director, writer, and cinematographer. He is known for A Storm Foretold (2023), Dagbog fra midten (2009) and Den hemmelige krig (2006).

Paul Jay – is a journalist and filmmaker. He’s the editor-in-chief and host of theAnalysis.news, a video and audio current affairs interview and commentary show and website. His films have won numerous awards at major festivals around the world. He is past chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada and was the founding chair of the Hot Docs! Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Jay was the co-creator and co-executive producer of Face Off and counterSpin, nightly prime time debate programs that ran for ten years on CBC Newsworld. Jay was the founder of The Real News Network based in Baltimore. He worked on the documentary series with Daniel Ellsberg based on Ellsberg’s book, “The Doomsday Machine”.

Madeline Cowen hails from the foggy isle of Vashon in the Salish Sea, landing in Eugene to complete their higher education in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. Since the founding of WildCAT (Cascadia Action Team), they have worked tirelessly to build our field-checking capacity, and to bring our fieldwork into the 21st century — integrating the use of GPS applications on smartphones to record important data in the field. They formerly worked with the regional non-profit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology and has been a life-long activist, working extensively with community-led organizations centered on Environmental Justice. When not working, you’ll find Madeline wandering through Cascadia, fishing, rafting, surfing, or kayaking with their dog Finn along the way.

Cascadia Wildlands Website

Sue Craig is on the executive committee and is the program chair for Many Rivers Group of Sierra Club. The Many Rivers Group represents almost 3,000 Sierra Club member in Lane, Douglas, and Coos counties. Their mission is to fight for a clean, safe, equitable, and green future.

Many Rivers Group of Sierra Club Website

Bonnie Olin is the driving force behind Owyhee Media. She began her advocacy to preserve the Owyhee region with the publication of her book, The Owyhee River Journals, in 2012. Her journals, combined with 125 full color photographs of rarely seen landscapes, allow readers to take a vicarious journey into the canyonlands of the Owyhee River in Nevada, Idaho and Oregon. That same year Bonnie launched Owyhee Media, the business created to distribute the book, and as a point of contact for her educational presentations on the Owyhee Canyonlands, which began in 2013.

The public is being asked to make a decision about the future of the Owyhee region with little visual or personal knowledge of the area. It is crucial to see it in order to understand what’s at stake and to make an informed decision regarding the preservation of this magnificent desert country. Her richly-illustrated book, dvd and presentations address this deficit of information.

Bonnie brings a level of professionalism to her presentation that is appreciated by the hosting venue. She is passionate and knowledgeable about her topic and eager to share the natural beauty of the Owyhee with her audience.

Owyhee Media Website

Judith Arcana is a Jane, a member of the Chicago underground service that helped thousands of women and girls get safe illegal abortions before the US Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade in January of 1973.

She’s a skilled performer/presenter who has worked with audiences in the US, Britain and Canada, often visiting campus and community groups to talk about reproductive justice and perform her powerful writing. Judith appears in some documentary films, including the 1995 Jane: An Abortion Service (dir. Kate Kirtz/Nell Lundy), the 2014 She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (dir. Mary Dore), the 2019 OUR BODIES OUR DOCTORS (dir. Jan Haaken), and 2022’s THE JANES, created by the producer/director team Daniel Arcana, Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin.

A longtime teacher of literature, writing and women’s studies, Judith has a PhD in Literature, an MA in Women’s Studies, an Urban Preceptorship in Preventive Medicine and a BA in English. She’s taught in high schools, colleges, libraries, living rooms, a state prison and a county jail.

Her first and last teaching jobs were for students at Niles Township High School in Illinois, in the original, beautiful old building that was her own alma mater — and the doctoral program of the Union Graduate School, an experimental “university-without-walls” that held colloquia, seminars and meetings all over the USA.  For Niles, Judith taught English, Creative Writing and Humanities, the latter as part of a team of students and teachers.  For UGS, where she served as a dean, Judith advised doctoral candidates, led residential seminars, and was founding director of the Union’s Center for Women in Washington DC.

Her writing has been supported by the Puffin Foundation, Rockefeller Archive Center, Institute for Anarchist Studies, NW Oregon’s Regional Arts and Culture Council, Celebration Foundation, Union’s doctoral faculty, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and Oregon Literary Arts – and fostered by residencies at Soapstone and MilePost5 in Oregon, the Montana Artists Refuge, Ragdale in Illinois, the Mesa Refuge in California and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in New Mexico.

1970 was a watershed year in Judith’s life. Visit Judith’s website to learn more about her writings, poetry, and being a Jane.

Judith Arcana’s Website