Meet Our Community: Tim McRae

Paige Combs - KCCB
10 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 Tim McRae, our former President of the board for KCCB! Tim enjoys hiking and backpacking, and has loved the vibrant community that this organization has built around Coyote Valley.

Role: Former President of the Board

With KCCB: Over 5 Years!

Fun Facts 🌟

Happy place: Point Lobos State Park in Carmel and Point Reyes in Marin 🏞️
Unusual creek sightings: Shopping carts 🛒
Favorite hobbies: Hiking, Samba, playing drums 🥾
Favorite food to eat: Gazpacho 😋
Favorite color: Bright Blue 🌈

When asking Tim about his hobbies, he mentioned, “I love to hike and play samba. There’s a percussion group that I have joined…a Brazilian style of music…and playing drums.”

How it All Started 🌱

Tim McRae met Deb while he was working at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Due to his expertise in environmental work, Deb recruited him to be on the board between 2018 and 2023. Tim’s work with the board provided a necessary action for the organization, raising funds so it could operate effectively. The board's overall goal is to both guide and support the executive director and help make decisions for the organization.

Tim described, “The volunteer work doesn’t happen if the organization isn’t funded to do it…We explain to [funders] and show them our value…and then when they have money they put it aside for us…but you know…there were some tight times.”

Despite struggling with some funding sources in 2021, right around the pandemic, the organization, combined with the strengths of the board, was able to all pull together. This highlights the strengths of the board functioning with KCCB as a team, all working together to achieve a common goal.

Impact on the Community 🌎

Tim has found a passion for making murals and the process of painting them together in the community. He said. “The process of creating a community…which is really what KCCB does…is really special. I enjoyed doing that.” He discussed the importance of cleanups for the health of the community and to keep the health of the creek stable. He also expressed the strengths of the organization, building leaders in the community, and how much impact that has on their lives.

However, again and again, Tim truly found love for the experience of painting murals with KCCB.

Describing his favorite memories of KCCB, he said,

“I would go back to painting that mural at Hellyer Park…to see it develop over time…you get there earlier in the day, and it’s….some splotches of color on the wall and then over the course of the day, [you see] eyes, the bird, and then by the end a vibrant multicolored mural.”

The process of starting with something small and building something in the community offers a powerful lesson: nothing can be done alone, and everything can be done with building blocks together.

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

Over the time Tim has worked with KCCB as the board President, three major discoveries he made include engendering community, building together, and participating in nature. When thinking about the future for KCCB, he said, “Deb did a wonderful job leading KCCB and has 10 years of a wonderful track record…I look forward to whoever the next person is [and how they bring] KCCB to the next level.”

Lastly, he hopes that KCCB continues to do what they do well: engendering community.

“It’s up to the person who comes in as the next steward of the organization. I don’t want to put a limit on that…leave it to the imagination of the next leader.”

Final Thoughts ✨

If someone is thinking about volunteering for the organization, Tim said, “you get to feel like you’re contributing to the environment...either through cleaning up a creek or…painting a mural on a bathroom wall, or even just seeing with more detail what’s been right in front of your eyes….it’s the opportunity to experience nature, but in a healthy and vibrant way.”