CCL Monterey was one of many chapters who planned or participated in a special ‘Sun Day’ outreach event in September 2025.
Celebrating clean power and community outreach on Sun Day
By Flannery Winchester
CCL chapters around the country have been busy with outreach this fall. Lots of this outreach rode the wave of public enthusiasm for “Sun Day” — a nationwide day of action celebrating and educating people about the power of clean energy.
Our volunteers’ creativity and enthusiasm shined as brightly as ever at these local events.
Rally gets TV time in Asheville
Twelve CCL volunteers from CCL’s Western North Carolina chapter tabled and clipboarded at the Asheville Rally for Clean Energy at the local Pack Square Pavilion. “We had a great day!” says Don Kraus, WNC chapter leader and CCL State Coordinator for North Carolina. “We collected 84 constituent comment forms with 19 new members joining.”
Don gave a 7-minute speech at the event and even had the opportunity to give a short TV interview to Asheville’s WLOS. “This was a case of ‘right place, right time’ — and being willing to say hello to the camera man!” Don jokes. “Since I had just done my speech, I had my talking points down.”
Climate community turned out in Monterey
CCL’s Monterey chapter in California felt so inspired by the Sun Day concept that they organized their own event for their community.
“We had 12 different groups join us on Monterey’s Window on the Bay park, including solar contractors, heat pump installers, environmental groups, advocacy groups and a church,” said chapter co-leader David Prina. “We had a good turn out with kids activities, music, a choral performance and face painter.”
A local TV station, KSBW, attended and interviewed David and chapter member Sandy Hoag, who was quoted in the broadcast speaking about the steadily decreasing prices for solar energy. David said on air, “Sun Day is a day of support for a healthier, more affordable future where solar and renewables are a big part of the grid.”
“We’re glad we did it!” David said. “We had a great time organizing this in a very short two months, and we felt like the community here in Monterey showed up in support.”
Palouse plugs in
CCL Palouse, which serves a region stretching into Idaho and Washington, hosted an Electric Transportation Fair on Sun Day.
Chloe and Aspen
“Local dealerships and our members brought a range of EVs and hybrids, and a bike shop brought a wide selection of electric bikes to share with the public,” shares chapter co-leader Judy Meuth. “We provided information about the vehicles and about the federal tax credits immediately available. Live music, food trucks, and kids activities rounded out the event. A couple hundred people showed up to learn and play!”
From Sun Day to the district office
Betsy and Nancy
CCL Reno tabled at their local Sun Day Solar Festival, where chapter members Chloe, Aspen, Brian, Janet, Betsy and Michelle greeted festival-goers with a smile and gathered 29 constituent letters. Chloe is a recent graduate from University of Nevada – Reno who has attended several of CCL’s events on Capitol Hill in D.C., and Aspen is one of CCL Reno’s newest members.
At their monthly chapter meeting, CCL Reno gathered three more letters, for a total of 32. Chapter members Betsy and Nancy then delivered the letters to the district office of Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV-02). (Shout out to Betsy for founding CCL’s Reno chapter nearly 10 years ago!)
This is one of the key ingredients in CCL’s secret sauce — in addition to building all of these community connections around climate change, we also bring those community voices directly to lawmakers, building more and more support for positive change.
