Members make critical contributions to ForestWatch and those contributions are as varied as the members themselves. Georgia ForestWatch (GFW) is pleased to introduce our first Donor Spotlight as our way of saying, “Thanks” to our supporters with this new regular feature, and to share their special stories with you.
Ted and Lynda Doll: Science and art among the hemlocks of Sautee Nacoochee.
While investigating human vision and cognitive neuroscience during his career as Principal Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Georgia Tech, Ted also hit the heights as a leader of Sierra Club national backpack trips in the southwest and Rocky Mountains for 15 years. Passionately involved in environmental issues since the 1980s, Ted has served on the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Group of the Sierra Club, the Board of Directors of Sautee Nacoochee Community Association, and as Past President of the Sautee Nacoochee Conservation Initiative and WaysSouth/Stop I-3.
Art quilter Lynda Doll is also a passionate native plant gardener – maintaining herb, perennial, bog, and woodland plots on the Dolls’ five-acre property. Lynda retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2006, where she was a research psychologist studying HIV prevention strategies and child sexual abuse. While at CDC, she served as the Associate Director for Science in the Injury Center. Since retiring, Lynda has been involved in two community gardens as well as her own – an African-American Heritage Garden and a native plant meditation garden, both at the Sautee Nacoochee Community Association (SNCA) in Sautee. She is also a member of the SNCA History Committee and serves as a docent for the Heritage Garden and cabin. Lynda served as Chair of the Friends of the White County Libraries, and currently heads the Sunday Worship Committee at the Georgia Mountain Unitarian Universalist Church in Dahlonega.
Following Ted’s retirement in 2005, the Dolls moved full-time to Hemlock Cottage, their mountain property in Sautee Nacoochee. Ted and Lynda made their first donation to GFW in 2006, contributing $100 toward GFW’s support of laboratories developing biological controls against the hemlock woolly adelgid. Since that time, their gifts have grown and the Dolls number among GFW’s consistent member-donors, responding to every seasonal Appeal, supporting activities as various as wine tastings, plant sales, sponsorship of special events such as GFW’s Annual Retreat, and hosting ForestWatch activities on their property. Ted also serves GFW in many volunteer capacities including hike leader, a two-year term as Board President, and as a member of the Fundraising Committee.
Having a variety of revenue sources helps make GFW a stable organization and allows us to maintain the independence of our views. GFW Board and staff have been working hard to diversify our sources of income, and Ted is particularly excited about GFW’s Legacy Giving Program, which offers donors various options for making tax-advantaged donations to GFW, including estate planning, insurance beneficiary designation, and other giving options. When a nonprofit has a solid component of projected income based on planned giving commitments from donors, it can better weather the normal ebb and flow of foundation and corporate funding. Ted and Lynda have included Georgia ForestWatch in their estate plans to help continue protecting the wild Georgia mountains they love, and GFW is grateful.
If you’d like to know about giving options available through Forest Legacy Partners, our new legacy giving program, you can read more at GAFW.org/planned-giving. You can also contact GAFW at (706) 867-0051 or email Development Director Janice Eaton at jeaton@gafw.org.