WELCOME TO DAY 2! From Flames to Futures: Navigating Wildfire Leadership with Hope and Resilience with Jennifer Gray Thompson

 

 “It’s never about benefiting our organization, it’s about benefiting the cause.” —Jennifer Gray Thompson 

 

2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

 

Day 2 of the 2024 Wildfire Leadership Summit is underway and the insights are about to get even more powerful! 

After an inspiring and insightful first day, we are thrilled to continue our important discussions on disaster recovery, rebuilding, and reimagining. 

As we come together once again to support one another and chart the path forward, let us carry the energy and optimism of day one into these next critical sessions. 

Tune in as our host, Jennifer Gray Thompson, discusses the organization’s ethical approach to data sharing, its meaningful partnership with United Airlines, and the importance of acknowledging ongoing disasters as the world faces the era of climate change. 

 

Highlights:

  • 00:22 We Will Go Running  
  • 02:13 Thank you United Airlines

 

Tweets:

Get ready to explore cutting-edge disaster mitigation tactics, hear personal stories of resilience, and discover funding opportunities to support your community’s recovery. Tune in as @jengraythompson welcomes you to Day 2 of the 2024 Wildfire Leadership Summit.   #Recover #Rebuild #Reimagine #podcast #wildfire #DisasterRecovery #AfterTheFire #2024WildfireLeadershipSummit #Day2 #UnitedAirlines #NonprofitPartnerships #DisasterReliefEfforts #EmergencyResponse #SocialImpact

 

Quotes:

02:00 “No matter what happens, we will all find time to sit in a room together and help other communities navigate it, no matter what it is. We will go running.” —Jennifer Gray Thompson

03:08 “It’s never about benefiting our organization, it’s about benefiting the cause.” —Jennifer Gray Thompson 

 

Meet Jennifer Gray Thompson, MPA, Founder & CEO of After the Fire USA

Jennifer Gray Thompson, named one of Forbes’ “50 over 50” IMPACT Leaders in 2022, has led Rebuild North Bay Foundation since January 2018, transforming it into a national leader in megafire recovery. A lifelong Sonoma Valley resident, she holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from USC and has worked for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Post-2017 North Bay fires, she became Executive Director of RNBF, which aids wildfire-affected communities across the American West. As CEO, she developed the Wildfire Resiliency Network and Survivor Deployment Model, advocated for federal policies, and hosted national Wildfire Leadership summits. Jennifer also created the “How to Disaster” podcast and serves on boards supporting Latino communities and first responders’ mental health.

Connect with After The Fire USA:

 

Transcription:

Jennifer Gray Thompson: Thank you all so much for coming, and here we are starting day 2. I hope that you enjoyed day 1. It really was quite a beautiful day, and I hope that it set a tone for many people. I got a lot of comments last night, which I really appreciated. So many of them about how much they are enjoying, the connectivity, the size, the access to other people. This is not one of those Summits where some people come and leave the stage you never actually get to stop and say hi to them. As a side note, we don’t share everybody’s contact information because it is a golden marketing list. We don’t want to do that to you, but do feel free to share your contact information, and you can always contact us after if you want, like a direct link to somebody. I’ve already taken care of one of those this morning. So I really appreciate that. 

One of the things I would like to do is just really acknowledge that what, as we stand here today, in this beautiful day here in Sonoma, that there are many parts of California very much on fire right now, in Southern California in particular, people working hard, people who are losing their homes. And you know, we’re keeping an eye on them, because, unfortunately, we’re always quite sure that what comes next is more members of this club, which is, it’s a terrible club to belong to, but it’s full of the very best people in the world, and so in that part, I’m proud of it. I know they’ll do a good job, but I want to acknowledge them, and then acknowledge the hurricane Francine bearing down right now in Louisiana and Mississippi. We are in the era of climate disasters and climate change, and one of our goals with a Summit like this is, no matter what happens, that we will all find time to sit in a room together and help other communities navigate it, no matter what it is that we will go running. And so I just want to acknowledge them. 

The next thing I want to do for the next slide is is acknowledge the role of United Airlines in getting this done. So Airlink is actually technically the group that made sure that we got the flights for our Maui people, we wanted to make sure it was an equal playing field for everyone from Maui, but also United has just gifted us $50,000 worth of flights a year, and yes, big hand, and they were really clear what they wanted was real impact. They weren’t really looking for like, you know, I mean, they like the thank you’s, but it was really like, but are you really impactful? And so we had a lot of conversations over many months, and I feel very honored that they would be so generous. Because one of the things I told them was that I share so like Melissa from Santa, if you want to go to VOAD this year, I can fly you there. I know you’re out here somewhere, so I did that for a couple of years. But anytime I can share those things with other people, that’s really always the goal, that it’s never about benefiting our organization, it’s about benefiting the cause. So I would like to play this short video from United before we get started, and thank them so much for their support. Poulin is in the room if, actually, if the United team could just stand up and wave for us. Thank you. Very generous and truly like, not at all, not like a cynical process of this. It was really like a very meaningful, many times conversation. So I’d like you to see this video, and then we’ll move on to our first panel. Thank you.

United Airlines video 

It has never been more important to raise awareness of the essential good that the world’s airlines do for people and the planet, far beyond the critical roles of connecting people, trade and economies. United Airlines many long standing humanitarian and charitable endeavors include being the founding airline sponsor of the Orbis flying Eye Hospital. United has also been a pioneering and innovative leader in addressing aviation sustainability. United is a founding sponsor of Airlink, a global humanitarian organization that delivers critical aid to communities during natural and manmade disasters worldwide by providing free airlift and logistical solutions to nonprofit partners. Since its inception in 2010 Airlinks, airline partners have flown some 12,000 relief workers and transported almost 13 million pounds of humanitarian cargo, directly helping over 60 million people in dire need. United’s Global Community Engagement Team maintains more than 100 charitable partnerships supporting communities around the world, including organizations like the American Red Cross, Global Glimpse, Make A Wish America, Rise Against Hunger, and World Central Kitchen. Through its miles for mission program United provides opportunities for customers who are mileage plus members to support causes they care about, raising more than 500 million miles since 2019. The recipient of the inaugural ATW and Air Lake Humanitarian Force For Good Award is United Airlines.

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