Winners Hail from Rhode Island, Virginia and
Wyoming
ST.
LOUIS (May 22, 2012)—National
Garden Clubs Inc. recently announced the winners of its highest honor: the 2012
Award of Excellence. The winners, who were recognized at NGC’s annual
convention May 19 in Buffalo, N.Y., include Southside Community Land Trust of Providence,
R.I., Strange’s Florists, Greenhouses and Garden Centers of Richmond, Va., and
Shane Smith of Cheyenne, Wyo.
“The
Award of Excellence program annually recognizes three truly exceptional
individuals, organizations or institutions that have made significant
contributions to their communities in such areas as environmental and civic
responsibility, conservation, beautification and promoting the love of
gardening,” says Shirley Nicolai, president, National Garden Clubs. “By
recognizing these deserving award recipients from different parts of the
nation, NGC hopes to educate and inspire others in communities coast-to-coast.”
National Garden Clubs Inc. is recognized as the largest volunteer gardening
organization in the world.
Nominated
by Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs Inc., Southside Community Land Trust,
www.southsideclt.org, is an organization
that fosters awareness of urban and sustainable agriculture programs and
provides land, education, tools and support to encourage people to grow food in
Greater Providence. The organization was
selected for the Award of Excellence based on its local efforts to provide
ongoing gardening education and offer comprehensive urban agriculture programs.
Among the many programs offered by Southside Community Land Trust are 13
neighborhood-based community gardens, a city farm located in the heart of
Providence, and the Urban Edge Farm, a 50-acre business model farm that offers
new area farmers a place to make the transition to commercial agriculture.
Southside Community Land Trust also created an urban agriculture task force
that brings together a coalition of growers, community professionals and
environmentalists to collaborate with community development groups, farmers,
chefs, policymakers and health care professionals to promote practices and
policies that strengthen Providence’s local food systems. Katherine Brown,
executive director, Southside Community Land Trust, accepted the Award of
Excellence from National Garden Clubs Inc.
Nominated
by Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs Inc., Strange’s Florists, Greenhouses
and Garden Centers, www.stranges.com, is one of
Virginia’s largest greenhouse growers and one of the largest retail garden
centers in the U.S. Strange’s, which has
been led by four generations of the Gouldin family, has been a fixture in the local
Richmond and Virginia business community for 75 years. They are one of the state’s
largest greenhouse growers, as well as one of the largest retail/grower
organizations and garden centers in the U.S., offering a wide variety of
flowering and green plants to gardening enthusiasts as a viable alternative to
“big box” greenhouse retailers. Strange’s offers to the consumer gardening educational
opportunities through in-house seminars and how-to instructional materials. As
a retail florist, Strange’s is a member of the Florist Transworld Delivery
Association and is consistently ranked in the nation’s top 40 FTD florists for wire
orders. They also support the work of numerous civic and non-profit
organizations through sponsorships and donations of plants and floral
materials, including the Science Museum of Virginia, the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts and the Virginia Orchid Show. William J. Gouldin, Jr., president,
Strange’s Florists, Greenhouses and Garden Centers, accepted the Award of
Excellence from National Garden Clubs Inc.
Shane
Smith, who was nominated by Wyoming Federation of Garden Clubs Inc., is a noted
garden author, consultant and the director and founder of the award-winning
Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, www.botanic.org, Wyoming’s only
public botanical garden. This nationally recognized garden has been lauded for
striving to promote the beautification and enrichment of the High Plains
through gardening, volunteerism, education and stewardship. In the 1970s, Smith’s
vision was to create a non-profit botanic garden and sustainability center in
Cheyenne—a city situated 6,000 feet above sea level renowned for its harsh weather
conditions. As part of this vision, Smith also directed the area’s efforts to
construct one of the nation’s first solar-heated greenhouses on the site. He
also was instrumental in developing the Paul Smith Children’s Village, the first
public children’s garden in the U.S. to earn a Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building
Council.
Smith
is the author of the Greenhouse Gardener’s
Companion, the top-selling greenhouse book on Amazon.com. He serves
coast-to-coast and internationally as a guest lecturer and consultant on
greenhouse gardening, community greening, horticulture therapy and
community-based botanic gardens.
Headquartered in St. Louis, National
Garden Clubs Inc. (www.gardenclub.org) is comprised of nearly
190,000 members, 6,000 local clubs, eight regions, 50 state clubs, a National
Capital Area club, and hundreds of international affiliates. NGC offers members
extensive educational programs on topics of current interest such as plantings
for public spaces, protecting aquatic ecosystems, greening and beautifying the
community, conservation, recycling, floral design, flower shows, garden
therapy, healing gardens and youth programs. Working in partnership with other
organizations, NGC offers several projects, including Habitat for Humanity
Landscaping and Penny Pines. Among NGC’s
most nationally honored projects are the Blue Star Memorial marker program and
funding and support for the Butterfly Garden at the U.S. Botanic Garden.
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