CALEDONIA, Wis. — The Eco-Justice Center is inviting the community to its upcoming Discovery Days to not only learn new skills but also support its mission of helping others connect with the earth.
Education program manager Katie Flannery prepared hay to feed to the alpacas later in the day.
“Our alpacas are both educators with me, so they help me with all of my summer camp programs, my field trips and my adult learning classes,” said Flannery.
The Eco-Justice Center was founded as an environmental education center and organic farm by the Racine Dominican Sisters in 2004.
The Eco-Justice Center is now a ministry partner of the Racine Dominicans, and Flannery said the mission remains the same.
“We donate 30-40% of produce to local food pantries but also an education center in which we teach folks of all ages all sorts of cool things about the earth,” said Flannery.
To support that mission requires funding. That’s why the Eco-Justice Center is preparing to put on its largest fundraiser: Discovery Days.
“Everything from foraging edible plants to wood turning, folks can make alpaca beads through a wet felting process and learn all sorts of cool things about natural dyes as well,” said Flannery.
Flannery said the Eco-Justice Center gets its name from the belief that environmental justice is social justice.
She also said the center wants to make sure everyone feels welcome here and learns how to best interact with nature.
“Our alpacas operate very similarly to our neuroatypical human friends,” said Flannery. “They don’t love direct eye contact. They don’t want you to touch them as much and that’s an amazing opportunity for me as well as an educator to teach people how to engage with folks and animals of all different creeds and kinds.”
Flannery said it’s all about growing community support for a fertile future.
Discovery Days at the Eco-Justice Center will be on Sept. 21 and 22.
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Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the role that Racine Dominican Sisters has with the Eco-Justice Center. This error has been corrected. (Sept. 11, 2024)