Home, Hope, Community: Cynthia McLaren Lloyd
03 Mar 2026
By Cynthia McLaren Lloyd, the Nature Trust’s Donor Relations Coordinator and a member of our monthly giving community of NatureMakers.
When I think about what it means to be a NatureMaker, I think about home.
I think about the places that have shaped my family’s story, my love of nature & what being a NatureMaker means to me: Home. Hope. Community.
Making space, making hope, making community.
When I first joined the Nova Scotia Nature Trust as Donor Relations Coordinator, I thought I understood what it meant to support conservation. I believed in the mission. I admired the rugged coastlines, the quiet of the old growth forests, the protected wild islands scattered along our shores. But in truth, my connection to this work began long before my role here and long before I became a donor.
Cynthia’s view of Prospect Bay.
As a young girl growing up in Prospect Bay, the outdoors wasn’t something we scheduled time for; it was simply woven into daily life. My childhood was shaped by art and music, by salt air and wave-worn granite shorelines, by wandering spruce-lined forest paths and watching the light shift across the open water. The land wasn’t just scenery; it was our windswept playground, our gathering place, our teacher. Along with my parents’ love of nature and family, those early experiences rooted something deep in me: an appreciation for the beauty, resilience, and quiet power of Nova Scotia’s landscape. My home.
Looking back, I can see how that upbringing shaped what I do now. It shaped my love for this place. It shaped my desire to protect it, and it shaped my decision to become a monthly donor – a NatureMaker. Every month, when my gift is processed, I feel a small but steady thread tying me to the land and family that shaped me. It’s not a grand gesture. It doesn’t arrive with bells and whistles. Yet together with hundreds of other NatureMakers, it becomes something powerful: a community quietly and consistently safeguarding Nova Scotia’s natural future.
Over the years, I’ve heard many people say, “I wish I could give more.” It’s something I understand deeply, but I’ve come to believe that conservation isn’t just about a few people giving more, it’s about more people giving what they can. We don’t just need a bigger slice of the pie; here in Nova Scotia, we need to bring more folks to the kitchen table. We need a bigger pie altogether. When more of us take part, each contributing in a way that feels manageable and meaningful, we build something stronger, more resilient, and more reflective of our communities. That’s what monthly giving represents to me: hope.
Conservation is long-term work. Forests grow slowly. Coastlines shift over generations. Species recover in their own time. Monthly giving mirrors that rhythm. It is sustainable. Reliable. Future-focused.
Every protected acre begins with people coming together. Month after month, NatureMakers do just that, building something lasting, sustainable, and rooted in love for the land we call home.
Join me as a monthly NatureMaker, and together we’ll help this story of the land continue, acre by acre, year after year.