Meet Annie Fikes, our New Public Relations and Events Intern

By Annie Fikes

Today is my second day as Plant With Purpose's summer Public Relations and Events intern. I'm a little nervous but mostly am incredibly excited and feeling very blessed to work and learn here this summer! Last Memorial Day, Scott Sabin spoke at the Palomar Christian Conference Center about Plant With Purpose and their mission to empower people to solve problems facing humans and the environment simultaneously.

In the past, I’ve been involved in both human aid and environmental advocacy organizations. I have usually seen these two types of missions presented as separate goals with different ends. Sometimes I even felt as though a choice had to be made between the “people-loving” side of me and the “nature-loving” one. Plant With Purpose’s ideas about how human and environmental well-being interact and are mutually dependent seemed so obvious to me after Scott presented them! It makes so much sense to me to use God’s beautiful creation respectfully to empower His people. Upon my return home, I researched Plant With Purpose and read about their efforts and actions across the world and their summer internships. It didn’t take me very long to decide that that was what I wanted to do this summer.

I see public relations as important because communicating with media outlets and donors is what allows Plant With Purpose to continue to function, and because media attention in newspapers and blogs spreads around the ideas that attracted me here in the first place. I’m very excited to help Plant With Purpose show people how they are loving God, people, and the planet.