Meet Our Community: Annette McMillan

As part of our seasonal spotlight series, we’re celebrating our incredible employees, partners, and volunteers who help make the work of Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) possible. In our Earth Day Blog, we talk about the ‘Ripple Effect’ and how all it takes is one person to inspire many to make a change in their community. Today we’re excited to introduce Annette, our Volunteer Engagement Coordinator at KCCB. Annette loves baseball, Legos, camping, and crime shows when they aren’t helping clean our beautiful creek. In their time with KCCB, they have discovered that grit, creativity, and friendship help us go farther. 

Role: Volunteer Engagement Coordinator

With KCCB: For Over 5 Years!

Annette and Evan Cleaning Up

Fun Facts 🌟

• Happy place: Yosemite - Vernal Falls  ⛰️ 

• Unusual creek sightings: Floor scrubbers, TVs, Xmas lights 📺 🎄

• Favorite hobbies: Crime shows, survival shows, camping, legos 🏕️

• Favorite food to eat: Italian and Mexican 😋

• Favorite color: Orange 🌈

When asked about strange things they have seen around the creek, Annette spoke on behalf of the unhoused population at creekside and said, “There’s been some people that had Christmas lights, working Christmas lights and Halloween decorations one time. They tap into the light pole and run an extension cord all the way to their house…they’re very creative and resourceful.”

How it All Started 🌱

Annette has been inspired by the environment since they were young. Originally from Florida, they manifested that one day they would work in the environmental sector. When Annette was 18, they moved across the country to California and became a dental assistant, reading environmental magazines on their lunch breaks.

Much later, Annette went back to college and was taking their environmental change class with Costanza, and as a part of their class, they went on a field trip with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. At that time, Annette was really impressed and dreamed about their future with KCCB.

Annette shared, “I remember telling my classmates how much I really enjoyed that and how much I liked that company and that I would like to work for them when I graduated. This was my first year, and when I looked them up, I saw they had 5-6 employees, and I was like, oh my god, I’m never going to get hired at this one tiny organization, so I just reached out to Deb, and she was like, well, you know, come on in and shadow someone and see what you think. The rest is history.”

Cleaning Together

Impact on the Community 🌎

Annette’s reflections indicated three major themes in their experiences with KCCB. Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful inspires grit and creativity, and builds deep friendships. The organization doesn’t stop when it faces barriers; if anything, it inspires them to do more.

Annette reflected on this and said, “It’s a pretty cool thing, just the sheer strength in numbers…we had a whole truck bed of a pickup truck we had to move, and we moved it up the hill with all these volunteers.”

Beyond this, volunteers choose to show up, again, and again, and again. Annette described, “We have so many people that come over and over again; it just blows my mind honestly, even after 5 years, just people are so dedicated to giving up their Saturday or Sunday morning to come out and do all this labor.”

Evan, a volunteer Annette has known since he was 13, comes to these events. Annette said, “He’s been coming for years, and he is just the hardest worker; he sees it through to the end.”

The dedicated volunteers, the deep focus and energy that cleanups require, and the inspiring people that folks meet every time are what Annette has witnessed in their time with KCCB.

Joy at an Event

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

Going forward, Annette described that they really want to see more immersive programming, especially as cleanups become less of the focus of the organization. With the creeks becoming cleaner, now KCCB can focus on things that involve the community and the environment.

Strange Things Around the Creek

Final Thoughts ✨

There are deep rewards in volunteering and working within this community. Annette expressed that “I think the reward of seeing the difference we are making and seeing the familiar faces…we all get together and go do really good service and have fun doing it.”

Beyond the creeks and the trees, KCCB involves the spirit of the community and uplifts the environment one event at a time.