The many gifts of Lucas Wolf

Sebastian and his son Emilio with the Santos Mata family in Honduras.

A little over a month ago I got to visit some dear old friends in Honduras that I’ve known for over 20 years. I have photos of Isis, (in the cherry shirt), as a toddler running around the Santos-Mata farm in central Honduras, and remember building one of my first Justa stoves in Fanny and Gerardo’s kitchen. 

This time I went with my son Emilio, who at this point in our two week trip was dizzy from meeting new people who all seemed to know him, but who he had no context for. But this photo ties it all together. 

The tree standing between Emilio and Gerardo’s family is one of many trees we planted in Lucas Wolf’s memory in the months after his passing, in 2017. Lucas had become a regular visitor on the CEASO farm, and it would be safe to say that the kids remember him much more than they remembered me (this is often the case with Lucas). 

He would stay on the farm while designing and launching an ambitious project in the region with Gerardo for Trees, Water & People, and would bring groups of TWP donors and volunteers to stay there as well.

“That “jodido” was good fertilizer”, Gerardo always says when showing me the trees we planted in his honor. They’re over 20 feet tall after 8 years!

So just as he instructed me right before his passing, Lucas continues to bring life to others in his death, and to bring people together through his gift for fertilizing the earth with love, compassion, and kindness.

The other night he brought my family together with his momma Mary Ellen and brother Jesse. We sat out back of my house telling stories and laughing about what a hoot it was to travel with him. Like when he went out chasing a rumor of a dancing pet turkey in rural Costa Rica, and got to know everyone in the community in the process, before finally discovering and getting a show from the turkey itself. 

Differences in context and culture were no barrier to connecting authentically with people. 

Lucas with community members in Guatemala.

So it comes as no surprise that we remember Lucas as if he was here yesterday. He gives me so many reasons to continue connecting, serving, and bringing beauty to the world, even when circumstances are dark and challenging in our space. 

Thanks Lucas for reminding us to focus on the horizon beyond difficult times, while never losing sight of the here and now, and the people that make life on this planet so rich. 

Love,

Your family at Trees, Water & People.