On March 7, Anna Wilkins, the Executive Director of the North County Land Trust, was recognized by JUST UNDERSTAND MY POTENTIAL , Inc. , as the 6th Community Service award recipient in their 16 year history.
Contacted at his home in Harvard, MA, J.U.M.P.’s Executive Director, Bill Spacciapoli stated that Anna’s contributions are centered around opening the NCLT properties to use for after school programming run by J.U.M.P. staff. Mr. Spacciapoli stated,
“Anna reached out to J.U.M.P. to offer NCLT properties for our programming and we eagerly agreed. Anna and I recognize that we have an opportunity to use these conservation areas, located in communities we both serve, to get youth out onto the land, particularly disadvantaged youth and youth of color that have traditionally been underrepresented in the outdoors.”
“The programs we are developing, which utilize conservation land close to where the kids live, support both JUMP’s mission to develop tomorrow’s leaders through outdoor experiences and NCLT’s mission to provide opportunities for everyone to build a relationship with nature.
We needed access to local land. Anna was encouraging and supportive of our programs and JUMP, Inc. as a whole. For these reasons, Anna is a very fitting recipient of this award.”