Sustainable Greencastle celebrates community-wide results

Friday, May 7, 2010
Those honored at Thursday's Sustainable Greencastle Celebration included Green Youth Citizen of the Year Xander Hazel; Green Organization of the Year Greencastle Community School Corporation, represented by Mike Schimpf and Bob Green; Green Citizen of the Year Tim Martin; and Green Business of the Year Chief's, represented by Steve Gaebes.

GREENCASTLE -- Businesses, service organizations, students and many other individuals from across the community crowded into city hall for the first-ever Sustainable Greencastle Celebration on Thursday night.

Although the Celebration recognized several nominees, the highlights were the announcement of the 2010 Sustainable Greencastle Awards.

Tim Martin earned the title of Green Citizen of the Year. In making the announcement, Mayor Sue Murray said, "Tim is a DePauw senior who has worked diligently researching, experimenting and helping us create the Greencastle Community Garden. He initially engaged out of a genuine interest in the potential of community gardens and did end up making work on this project his Bonner Scholar placement for his senior year.

"Without Tim's efforts, I'm not sure we would have been ready to rent plots this season," she continued. "He's indeed a wonderful example of the kind of power we have seen over the last year: accomplishing much through the cooperative efforts of many."

Other celebrated nominees included Paula Evans, Constance Ferry, Joanne Haymaker, Jim Rempe and Stacie Stoffregen.

The Green Youth Citizen of the Year is Xander Hazel, who was recognized by Commission on Sustainability member Cathryn Ensley. Hazel served as a facilitator for the recycling and waste reduction work group of the Sustainability Committee and helped produce The Sustainable Greencastle Report.

Active from the group's very first meeting, Hazel helped open up communication across the community to bring forth new ideas for community recycling. Among serving in other leadership roles for our community, he is co-president of the Greencastle High School Environmental Club. He also helped lead four cleanup projects in Big Walnut Creek in addition to a similar cleanup of Highway 40.

Other recognized nominees included Jenny Riggle's and Julie Carr's classes at Deer Meadow Primary School and the Northern Putnam County Girl Scouts.

The Green Business of the Year award went to Chief's Restaurant. Located in the heart of the community on the square, Chief's has been a strong and dependable partner in the community's sustainability efforts.

A distinctive and popular vendor at the Downtown Farmers' Market, Chief's was an early public advocate for a Buy Local campaign. Practicing what they preach, Chief's purchases food from local growers, including Bob Zaring and Jerry Williams. In the past year, the restaurant has recycled more than two tons of glass bottles and one ton of cardboard.

Other celebrated green businesses included the Blue Door Cafe, Buzzi Unicem U.S.A. and Robert Zaring's farm.

The Greencastle Community School Corporation earned Green Organization of the Year honors.

In making the announcement, Commission on Sustainability member Doug Cox emphasized the Greencastle Schools Energy Challenge sponsored by Duke Energy. The Challenge motivated participating schools to cut their electricity consumption by double-digit percentages, with Deer Meadow Primary School winning the challenge with a conservation rate of 17 percent.

The Greencastle Community School Corporation, led by its Energy Coordinator and Sustainability Commission member Mike Schimpf, has saved more than $500,000 as a result of energy conservation measures instituted in 2006.

The Sustainable Greencastle Celebration also saluted the Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce, the Greencastle Civic League, Deer Meadow Primary School, the DePauw Environmental Club and the Downtown Farmers' Market.

Sustainable Greencastle is a community-wide association convened quarterly by the City of Greencastle's Commission on Sustainability. The association's mission is to connect people and ideas for environmental solutions to strengthen our community, economy, culture and quality of life.

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  • Kudos are in order to all who were nominated, and a special congratulations to all who won!

    -- Posted by cll on Fri, May 7, 2010, at 4:14 PM
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