2020 Virtual Summer Benefit

On July 20th, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation hosted a virtual benefit since we could not gather in person this summer. The following are edited selections from remarks given by SMF Executive Director Adam Moore and SMF Board President Peter Getsinger.

Adam Moore
I’m Adam Moore, I’m the executive director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, and tonight it is my great pleasure to welcome you to our virtual summer benefit! I hope that everyone got out today, and enjoyed a walk on one of our beautiful sanctuaries. Thank you for taking the time out of this beautiful evening to Zoom in with us today for this virtual event.

I would like to begin our virtual event by thanking you, our sponsors. Our mission is to conserve the natural, beautiful, rural landscape and character of Martha’s Vineyard for present and future generations, and your financial support makes accomplishing this mission possible. Your support for our Summer Benefit funds about a third of our operating budget. The Summer Benefit provides a critical source of funds, and I am so grateful to you, our sponsors, for supporting us, so generously. And, I am so grateful to our Summer Benefit Committee, who worked so hard to make this virtual event, as meaningful, and enjoyable, as possible.

In the year ahead, we will continue to work as hard as we can to conserve land across the Island, and to connect the trails together, and make sure our lands are cared for as well as they can possibly be.

We have formed a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and we will take positive actions to make sure that our organization becomes more diverse in every respect, and that we make sure that our sanctuaries and programs and communications are as welcoming and inclusive as possible.
And we are writing a sustainability plan, to make sure that all that we do— from agriculture to trail creation to caring for buildings to the stewardship of our forests—are managed as sustainably as possible.

Tonight I give a very special thanks to past [SMF] President Rez Williams, who painted the beautiful oil painting of Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary beside me, and to Kathy Forsythe, who used a portion of the painting to create a beautiful poster of Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary.

I would like to take just a minute to let you know what Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation has meant personally over the past few months. The pandemic actually proved to be one of the most inspiring times of my career, as I have never seen our lands enjoy a higher level of use. But the early days of the pandemic were dismal, and stormy, and frightening, and confusing. All the news was bad. Yet when all seemed lost, and it seemed like things would never get better, nature gave us hope.

Because then spring came.
And the ospreys returned. And the shadbush bloomed. And the starflowers blossomed, just like they always do. And the birds sang. And the terns and plovers and skimmers flocked back to Little Beach. And all the leaves unfurled and opened.

And in nature, everything carried on, just as it is supposed to. In nature, we found hope, and constance, and solace. And you find that on a Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation sanctuary. And you will always find that—now, tomorrow, next year, forever. So this spring, Sheriff’s Meadow gave us hope.

So tonight I thank you, all of you, our Sponsors and supporters and volunteers, for joining us here tonight, and thank you for your loyal and enthusiastic support of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation.

Thank you and good night.

Peter Getsinger
On behalf of the Getsinger family I am humbled to be with you all here today. My family’s involvement with Sheriff’s Meadow goes back some 46 years, but before I get into that, I wanted first to thank those individuals that are going off the board after many years, and Brien O’Brien who has done a terrific job of leading the organization over the last three years. First, to those that have served, Kim Burns, Patty Favreau, and Carol Hillenbrand who are going off the board after many years of Sheriff Meadow service, and welcome those that are coming on board, Chris Alley, and Susannah Bristol, who come back to the board after a year away, and Tara Gayle, Lizzy Horvitz, Aileen Roberts, Carla Taylor-Pla, and Alec Walsh.

I want to thank Brien O’Brien, who has completed his time as president. During his tenure, the financial health of the organization has improved dramatically since he became president and we initiated the campaign, and he guided the organization through these complex times, So thank you Brien.

As we all know, in mid-March the United States was confronted with the Corona Virus and what resulted in a global pandemic that has hit the United States harder than any other country in the world. In mid-March Sheriff’s Meadow was faced with a very difficult decision: to close down or keep our trails open and offer a refuge, a place to appreciate the beauty of this island, a place to appreciate the good that we as an island and SMF have done for future generations to walk and commingle with nature.

As complicated as the last six months have been, the mission of Sheriff’s Meadow has remained clear, we stayed open throughout the Covid crisis, and as a result, the number of visitors to our various trails spiked dramatically and validated why we are steadfast in our commitment to what we do, protecting the rural character of this island, these islands, a refuge, and a place to appreciate the delicate relationship that exists between man and nature.

With that commitment, our challenges continue to grow, over the next several years we need to complete the Capital Campaign begun three years ago. Our goal is to have an endowment draw that covers a third of our annual budget. We still have a lot of work to do on this score, and we look forward to working with you towards its completion.

In terms of land preservation, Sheriff’s Meadow is an important member of the conservation partnership. We meet quarterly with the other conservation groups on the Island. We collaborate, and work together toward a common goal, to increase the footprint of conserved property, that is available for all to appreciate. Our collective longer term goal is to see somewhere close to 50% of the Island forever preserved. And with property valuations where they are, I believe that working with other organizations such as the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank will greatly increase the opportunity to conserve land.

As to my involvement with Sheriff’s Meadow, our family first connected with Sheriff’s Meadow through Henry Beetle Hough in 1974. Sadly, my older brother had lost his life in a car accident. Robbed of his life, my parents wanted to honor the timeless nature of the beauty here, and turned to Henry to write the dedication to a memoir relating to a major Trustees of Reservation property on Chappaquiddick. In his dedication, he said: “Those now living, who visit and revisit regions with the excitement of discovery and renewal are sharers, enjoying in trust the ancient, modern, and eternal character of a special region of Martha’s Vineyard. They are sharers still with young Gordon Getsinger, whose love is embodied in the untamed the untamed wildness of this place. Those words in many respects embody the character of Sheriff’s Meadow.”

Both in 1984, 2002, and ultimately in 2010, my family partnered with Sheriff’s Meadow. We felt a need to conserve property for the enjoyment of generations to come. We are now into our fifth generation here, and are pleased to have made a small contribution to the Island’s rural preservation.