Meet Our Community: Bill Rankin
- Paige Combs - KCCB
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
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 Bill, a long time volunteer, partner, and Save Our Trail President who has been actively involved in the community advocating for more urban green spaces and acknowledging the price we pay for not having sustainable housing for our unhoused population and the impact it has on our environment.
Role: Volunteer, Partner, Save Our Trails President
With KCCB: For Over 10 years!
Fun Facts 🌟
Happy place: Yosemite, Sanborn Park, Mount Umunhum 🏞️
Unusual creek sightings: Snakes 🐍
Favorite hobbies: Hiking, Yard & Estate Sales 🥾💰
Favorite place to eat: Aqui Cal-Mex 😋
Favorite color: Green 🌈
When Bill was asked about his favorite happy places, he shared, “Nothing beats Yosemite, but I like the local county parks around here quite a bit.”
How it All Started 🌱
Bill met a trail advocate who was conducting a neighborhood tour of some local trails, and Deb Kramer, the executive director of KCCB, happened to be there. That was the first time he had met her, and it wasn’t too long after that when he first started to get involved, about 10 years ago.
Bill has been President of Save Our Trails for the past 13 years, and his work, coupled with KCCB a lot of their worlds intersect in a meaningful way. Especially in terms of the Coyote Meadows Coalition, where they are currently working on expanding trails and getting it recognized as a city park. What is significant about Bill’s story is that he may not always have the time to dedicate to cleanups, but he makes an effort to table, participate, and blend his work with KCCB.
He said, “I am by no means a super regular, I definitely don’t go every week, but each time I go and I’ve done in the past few years to table there to talk about local trails and Coyote Meadows.
What Bill highlights here, is creating space and finding ways to link our passions as a bridge within the community, one step at a time.
Impact on the Community 🌎
Bill has highlighted several major themes on what the biggest impact has been on the community, one being the protection of open spaces. Secondly, the acknowledgement that it’s not about immediate gratification, rather, it’s learning that effort has greater rewards when caring for our community. Lastly, he shared several key themes about our unhoused population, and the significance of policies protecting our unhoused, so as a byproduct, this also protects our green spaces and creek.
Bill expressed in terms of Coyote Meadows, “It’s been 8-10 years since we started [creating the park], it’s always been a long process. Once the Five Wounds Trail gets built through there, I’m hoping the city will recognize it as a wonderful green space to remain protected."
He shares that it’s never about immediate results, rather it’s about the process, the connection, and the long-term reward of reclaiming our outdoor spaces.
“Some kids go out there for community service credits, and…some parents bring people out there; it often seems like they start out reluctant to be there. Then [they] have a real change of heart after…cleaning an area up that needs it so desperately. I think it’s rewarding for everyone.”
Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳
There are many aspects of our world that have intersecting issues, especially when considering the environment. What Bill has uncovered is that some major changes he has noticed is that as policies change and more of the unhoused community gets the care they deserve, our creeks and green spaces can recover faster from efforts from organizations like KCCB.
“[KCCB] is a needed organization for our area, in particular with cleaning up the encampments, that’s always ongoing, and hoping more and more of those folks find permanent residency some place because it’s unsustainable for that many people to be living out on the creeks.”
Final Thoughts ✨
Bill expressed that if anyone is trying to find a reason, or some purpose to be motivated to get involved and volunteer, there’s one thing you can be sure of, and that’s “you look back at what you’ve done for the day and it’s very noticeable the difference. One person or a big group of people can get it done.”
Over time, and years of effort, progress can be made and remember “the more we pick up the less that gets out to the ocean.”
That, Bill expressed, is one of his driving forces for getting involved.
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