http://olcv.org/content/evann-remington
Ask Evann Remington about her favorite spot in Oregon and you’ll get a list of stories told in the way one shares the best childhood memories:
Fast-talking stream of consciousness loaded with detail—and all smiles. Evan is unequivocal about her love of the Rogue River, where she spent summer months as a kid camping with her immediate and extended families. Arrivals to the camp would have to call down the canyon to be collected by boat. They built a sauna. “We had a lot of time,” says Evann. “We were able to do some really creative things.”
Maybe that glorious time on the Rogue is what instilled her sense of environmental stewardship that now seems to inform her life decisions. Two and a half years ago, Evann, 29, launched her own business, Organic Fresh Fingers, in Salem, where she grew up.
Evann says that some of the rhetoric you hear from the business community might lead you to believe that you can’t create jobs, strengthen the economy and take care of the environment at the same time. “But,” she says, “We’ve been able to show that you absolutely can.”
And now Evann is signing up for more work. Volunteer work. As a steering committee member for Marion County’s newly re-formed OLCV chapter. Through her work with the OLCV Marion County chapter, which is on the precipice of some important local elections in 2010—including Salem Mayor—Evann hopes she can help to get other businesses on board with considering social and environmental impacts as part of their bottom line.
“I’m actually really having a lot of fun,” she says, adding that the steering committee is full of some pretty great—and fun—folks.
Work is good. Fun is better. And while the memories of the Rogue may be informing Evann’s environmental values, looking ahead is what’s motivating her. “I’ve got a three-year-old,” says Evann. “I’m really concerned about what the future’s going to look like for her.”
