Acknowledgements

Native cultures the world over are the original creators of nature-based education, the protectors of sacred knowledge about the world around us, and those who have defined what it means to let children grow through play in nature. Our work could not exist without them.

 

Although largely managed and operated online, TerraLumia Foundation sets its physical roots in Kenmore, Washington, land that has been tended, loved, and called home by the Duwamish and Stillaguamish peoples since time immemorial. We are grateful to live and work on this land, and we recognize that merely acknowledging the vital role and ancestral right to this land is not action.

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We make an ongoing financial commitment to two Indigenous-led organizations whose work we deeply respect. Na'ah Illahee Fund — whose name means "Mother Earth" in Chinook — is an Indigenous women-led intermediary advancing climate justice, food sovereignty, and self-determination for Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest. Na'ah Illahee Fund Their work is rooted in the same lands TerraLumia calls home, and their commitment to intergenerational stewardship of the natural world runs parallel to everything we believe about children and the earth. First Nations Development Institute works nationally to uplift and sustain the lifeways and economies of Native communities through advocacy, financial support, and knowledge sharing First Nations Development Institute — recognizing, as we do, that communities hold their own answers and deserve the resources to act on them. Supporting both organizations is not a footnote to our work. It is part of it.

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As our own team spans the country and even the globe, covering lands from the Mohican, Munsee Lenape, the Hohokam, O’odham Jeweḍ, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Cayuse, Suquamish and more; we encourage everyone who finds their way to this foundation, regardless of where you are in the world, to learn whose land you stand on and to find your own meaningful way of honoring that. If financial contributions to organizations supporting your local tribes are not an option for you, there are many ways to learn about and support these cultures to ensure their heritage lives on.