May 2, 2019
Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director Email:Liz@FLOWforWater.org
FLOW (For LoveofWater), Traverse City, MI Web: FLOWforWater.org
Office: (231) 944-1568 Cell: (570) 872-4956
FLOW (For Love Of Water), a Great Lakes law and policy center based in Traverse City, recently hired two local newspaper editors and passionate environmental stewards to join its growing team of advocates for the Great Lakes and the public trust. Harbor Springs resident Kate Bassett started in March as FLOW’s new Development Director; Leelanau County native Jacob Wheeler started in April as Communications Coordinator. Both work at FLOW part-time.
“It brings me great pleasure to welcome Kate Bassett and Jacob Wheeler to our staff,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of FLOW. “Kate already has helped to grow FLOW’s reach, and is an amazing connector with those who love and want to protect the Great Lakes. And Jacob since his first days on the staff has brought insight, focus, videography skills, and a fine writing voice to our website and social media platforms. We are so very fortunate to attract such talented, passionate, and energetic staff to the FLOW team.”
Kate Bassett
Kate has been a storyteller, community builder, and passionate advocate for the Great Lakes since moving to northern Michigan 18 years ago. As the editor of the Harbor Light Newsin Harbor Springs for nearly two decades, Kate has worked to connect people, celebrate a sense of place, and create partnerships to improve economic, environmental, and educational collaborations in the region.
A grassroots organizer at heart, Kate developed programs to raise funds for critical health and human service nonprofits, served as a founder for the Harbor Springs Festival of the Book, and served on numerous boards and advisory councils for area nonprofits before joining FLOW’s staff as Development Director.
“Lake Michigan is my reset button,” says Kate, who always carries a river or lake stone in her pocket. “I find myself pulled to the water almost every day, in every season. Ice songs and deep summer dives—I don’t know the precise moment it happened, but these waters are stitched into my bones.”
Jacob Wheeler
Jacob edits and publishes the Glen Arbor Sun, a seasonal, biweekly newspaper that celebrates and tells stories about Leelanau County’s unique characters and places; he founded the Sun when he was 18, partly as a way to pay for his studies at the University of Michigan. He also teaches journalism and advises the White Pine Press student newspaper staff at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City.
Born in Denmark and raised in rural Leelanau County, Jacob holds dual citizenship and (on a good day) speaks four languages. On cold, grey winter days, he sometimes dreams of Guatemala, where he spent his mid-20s, living in a Mayan highland village, learning Spanish, swimming in a volcanic lake, and writing a book about the country’s child adoption industry.
“My favorite ways to experience the Great Lakes include swimming—nine months a year!—in Lake Michigan’s holy waters or running or biking along her shoreline,” said Jacob, for whom the concept of the public trust—as policy, as a community, and as a spiritual rallying cry—resonates deeply.”
