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2005 Garden Crusader AwardsComplete List of Winners
Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for the 2005 Garden Crusader Awards. Here are this year's winners: GRAND PRIZE Though Rick doesn't consider himself a gardener, gardening has become his life's passion. In his work with youth, seniors and people with developmental disabilities, he was always looking for creative ways to help people live healthier lives and feel more connected to their community. "I've found that growing a garden provides people with better nutrition, promotes a healthier lifestyle, and increases social contact across all kinds of barriers." One of the programs Rick has co-founded is the Madison Home Garden Project. Since 1998, more than 125 raised beds have been built for seniors and people with disabilities. Read more ... EDUCATION Skip Wiener is using two of the loves in his life—working with children and landscape architecture—to revitalize inner-city Philadelphia. Much of his work is in West Philadelphia, not too far from where he grew up. Open green spaces are replacing trash-filled empty lots, and along the way, Skip is teaching the city's next generation about the beauty and benefits of plants. "With more than 30,000 vacant lots in Philadelphia," says Skip, "we need to change kids' attitudes about green spaces." Read more ...
FEEDING THE HUNGRY Growing up on South Dakota's Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Indian reservations, Julie Garreau has seen first-hand the struggles of her Lakota people. In a 2½-acre garden near the Cheyenne River Youth Project, Julie and a cadre of young volunteers are growing organic vegetables for families and the local elderly nutrition center. "The kids are our future," says Julie. "If we can show them how gardening can feed them, help them make a living and provide a connection to the land and their heritage, then we'll be a stronger people." Read more ...
BEAUTIFICATION It may seem counterintuitive, but it was a love of nature and the natural world that drove Michael Howard and his wife to relocate from an affluent neighborhood into the impoverished Fuller Park area of downtown Chicago. As Michael says, "we wanted to help people see that it's a human being's responsibility to take care of the environment." Over the past 5 years, he and his neighbors have come together to convert a 3 acre lot covered with 200 tons of trash into gardens with fruit trees, perennials, vegetables, a mini-wetland, and even a little petting zoo. Read more ...
URBAN RENEWAL When Bill Dawson took over the Growing to Green Community Garden Program, there were only few community gardens in Columbus, and all were struggling to survive. Three years later, there are more than 50 community gardens and 35 other school gardens and beautification projects. It's Bill's work with children and teens that really gets him excited. An example is the garden he created with juvenile offenders on an empty lot in one of the roughest sections of town. "After only one year of growing this garden, the kids won the city-wide award for Best Community Garden," says Bill. Read more ...
RESTORATION Patricia Osburn wanted to help people in her hometown gain a better understanding of environmental stewardship, but she knew that just talking about it wasn't enough. "We needed to show, not just preach," she says. Patricia's brainstorm was to engage local residents, from school kids to seniors, in transforming a 20-acre dumpsite into a model garden. Eight years later, residents can wander through a wildflower meadow, artificial wetland, native plant garden, butterfly garden, children's garden, raised bed gardens for seniors, community garden plots and a conservation forest. Read more ...
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