Benefit for Friends of Bowker Creek Society

PROGRAMS IN EARTH LITERACIES’ mission is “to ignite our sense of connectedness with Earth and nurture a spirituality of Earth care through learning circles.” Program coordinator Gertie Jocksch says this is what inspired the 12-year-old nonprofit to bring environmentally-focused singer/songwriter Sara Thomsen into town to give a benefit concert and workshop for the Friends of Bowker Creek Society (FOBCS).

Sara Thomsen

“We’ve never done this before,” Jocksch says of the concert, a new venture for Earth Literacies that organizers thought would be “a perfect fundraiser” for FOBCS; “they’re taking out invasive species, keeping that area green, and it’s time for us to do something that supports an important project like this.”

Historically ignored, buried, and sullied, Bowker Creek runs through the municipalities of Oak Bay, Saanich, and Victoria. The non-profit FOBCS formed to organize watershed cleanup and public education efforts. “They’re doing wonderful work,” Jocksch says. “There are lots of family activities; it’s time to give back… it fits so well with our mission.”

Singer Sara Thomsen is on a mission as well. “At concerts, conferences, classrooms, workshops, retreats, jails, places of prayer, and lines of protest, to be with Sara is to want to sing… Sara’s ability to get people singing magically transforms gatherings into communities empowered with possibility,” her bio reads. Based in Duluth, Minnesota, Thomsen will also be holding a workshop, with proceeds from both events earmarked to benefit FOBCS.

Sara Thomsen performs April 17 at 7:30pm, tickets $25. “Songs Like Seeds—Planting Love Note by Note, Singing Playshop” with Sara Thomsen, April 18, 10am-4pm, $75. Both events at Cadboro Bay Gordon Head United Church, 2625 Arbutus Road. Tickets at earthliteracies.org or 250-220-4601.—MK