Grant Advisory Team

The Lilies Project Team during the Celebrating Courage Event at Rising Star, August 12, 2018 Left to Right, first row - Tracey Brown Edwards, Danielle Bailey-Lash, Marie Garlock, Caroline Rutledge Armijo, Amy Adams, Leslie Bray-Brewer Left to Right,… — The Lilies Project Team during the Celebrating Courage Event at Rising Star, August 12, 2018
Left to Right, first row - Tracey Brown Edwards, Danielle Bailey-Lash, Marie Garlock, Caroline Rutledge Armijo, Amy Adams, Leslie Bray-Brewer
Left to Right, second row - Ridge Graham, Rev. Gregory Hairston, David Hairston

Danielle Kara Bailey-Lash

August 13, 1974 - November 30, 2019

Caroline Armijo

artist/project leader
Residents for Coal ash Clean up
ACT Against coal ash
Greensboro, NC

Stokes County native, Caroline Rutledge Armijo is a mixed-media artist, environmental advocate and mother, who lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her work incorporates her concern for environmental issues threatening her home community – coal ash and fracking. Building on her work as a liturgical artist while living in Washington, DC, Caroline's work focuses on personal history, spirituality and the environment. Her graduate work focused on cultural institutions and lifelong learning with a focus on the importance of art and play. Caroline will manage the overall project, create public art and lead programming. She is very excited about collaborating with others.

David Hairston

Walnut Tree Homeowners Association, President
Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup
Walnut Cove, NC

David is a leader in both the Walnut Cove community and neighboring Walnut Tree. He recently completed building a playground for the Walnut Tree community and is now diving in to build The Walnut Tree Community Center. David will be involved with many of the community planning activities, and will continue to speak as an advocate with government officials about the environmental justice disparities impacting his community, the Walnut Tree.

Amy Adams

Appalachian Voices, NC Field Manager Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup
ACT against Coal Ash
Boone, NC

Amy has been organizing in the Belews Creek Community around coal ash since early 2013. Prior to joining Appalachian Voices, Amy worked for NC Department of Environmental Resources. She gives an impassioned presentation on why she left her state government job during the US Civil Rights Commission on Coal Ash, which was included in the film "Democracy for Sale" with Zach Galifianakis. Amy will continue to lead local organizing in the community through the grassroots group, the UNC Well Study and statewide. She will strategically use the space to invite and meet with policy decision makers.

Eddy McGee

Stokes County Arts Council, Executive Director Danbury, NC (Local)

Eddy is the fearless leader of the Stokes County Arts Council, which has earned the reputation of being North Carolina's Guerrilla Arts Council. Eddy will help integrate into the overall county programs, assist in fundraising and oversee the Artist Connect component of the project. Rumor has it, Eddy also makes a mean cheesecake, which appeared in Southern Living Magazine.

Kunigal Shivakumar

NC A&T, Center For Composite Materials, Director
Greensboro, NC

Dr. Shivakumar has been studying how to use coal ash over over fifteen years and is a recognized as a member of the National Air and Space Museum Wall of Honor. Dr. Shivakumar is the lead researcher behind the coal ash technology. He will guide the development of the larger technology applications and also seek funding for a pilot plant, which will aid long-term continuation of creating art out of coal ash. Most importantly, he said yes when Caroline asked if he would help her make art out of coal ash.

Marie Garlock

PhD, UNC-CH
Dept of Communication, IHC
NC BCAction
InterPlay Facilitator
Chapel Hill, NC

Marie first began working in Walnut Cove in 2015, when she collected a dozen interviews of families impacted by coal ash and fracking. This work evolved into the Doctoral Dissertation. Marie will lead artistic workshops, host oral history trainings and curate the interview collection, including the creation of an original performance based on interviews. Marie is particularly drawn to using performance to aid in healing around cancer. Marie’s work with The Lilies Project can be followed here.

Tracey Edwards

Residents for Coal Ash CleanUp
ACT against Coal Ash
walnut cove, NC

Tracey has taken up the helm of her mother Annie Brown, our leading community advocate before she passed away in September 2014. Since Tracey has been featured in national films and news reports, including "The Climate Listening Series" with Dayna Reggero and "Democracy for Sale" with Zach Galifianakis. Both Zach and Tracey are avid Price fans. Tracey will be involved in the community planning of activities, collection of oral histories, and speak to a broad range of audience members both locally and on a broader level.

Wade Brown

NC A&T, Center For Composite Materials, Researcher
Greensboro, NC

Within the coal ash reuse industry, Wade's name is well-regarded. Living within view of the Marshall plant, Wade will direct the fabrication of the public art installations using the coal ash composite technology.

Community Organizations

Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup, Belews Creek, NC

Residents for Coal Ash Clean Up gather as part of the Good Neighbor Day Prayer Vigil, September 2016 | Credit: Dayna Reggero, The Climate Listening Project, The Story We Want

Our main community group is known as Residents for Coal Ash Cleanup. It is made up of impacted neighbors to the coal ash ponds. Over forty families at Belews Creek are living on bottled water since Spring of 2015, plus almost one thousand families statewide. Many local residents have purchased their own water for decades. Other members include concerned community members and people wishing to help advocate for the excavation of the coal ash. Membership also overlaps with No Fracking in Stokes, another local advocacy group, which formed because fracking threats the same land and residents.

ACT against Coal Ash, North Carolina Statewide

Alliance of Carolinians Together against Coal Ash (ACT against Coal Ash) is a statewide organization made up of impacted community members neighboring Duke Energy Facilities and communities receiving coal ash in landfills. Photo Taken April 2016

ACT against Coal Ash formed after the 2015 Duke Energy's Shareholder Meeting. The first official meeting was held at Belews Creek in July of the same year. Weekly calls and quarterly meetings help us keep abreast of the continuous unfolding of the coal ash issues and policies in North Carolina. The entire country is watching how decisions are being made. Following include a few of our members: