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Annual Sustainability Awards presented to individual, couple, two organizations
A local couple who epitomizes sustainable living, the director of the Putnam County Senior Center, a gung-ho gardening group and true friends of the park have been named winners of the 2023 Sustainability Awards.
The Greencastle Sustainability Commission annually recognizes Putnam County citizens, organizations and businesses for protecting the environment.
Three of the 2023 awards were presented by Sustainability Commission Chairman John Garner, a retired longtime local science and biology teacher, prior to the December meeting of the City Council.
The other honor, which went to Juliete Stewart and Craig Schroer as Outstanding Citizens of the Year, was presented by their longtime friend, Jerry Rud of Greencastle, who noted their “lifestyles are examples of sustainable living.”
Stewart and Schroer “have planted on and maintained their property to promote biodiversity,” Rud said in a rare presentation by the nominator. “They have installed a solar array to generate their own electricity. Craig has built a solar wood-drying kiln. And they are consummate naturalists who share their vast knowledge of their sightings with others.
“If all citizens of our county were of the same caliber as Julie and Craig, it would be a very informed community,” Rud continued. “They are truly model citizens who live sustainably.”
Meanwhile, Senior Center Director Malinda Mann received the 2023 Outstanding Leader of the Year honor.
Putnam County Master Gardeners were presented the Outstanding Practices award, while Friends of the Park were given the Outstanding Organization honor for 2023.
Outstanding Citizens of the Year
With a strong environmental awareness, Juilete Stewart and Craig Schroer maintain a 7.3-acre planting of prairie grasses and wildflowers with 350 trees and 450 shrubs. Their 30-acre woodland behind the house is registered in the Department of Natural Resources Classified Forest and Wildlands Program. Fallen trees are cut into manageable logs that Schroer then has milled into boards for his woodworking.
In addition to installing a solar array, Schroer has a large organic garden and makes maple syrup each spring from sap from their own trees.
Leader of the Year
Putnam County Senior Center Director Mann strives to sustain a good working environment for the elderly and encourages community involvement to bridge the gap with a young generation of volunteers. Her programs benefit the elderly daily with food, friendship and just some plain fun. She uses resources to build the self-esteem of visiting people in need.
With a passion for more community involvement through voluntarism, food and outreach of resources, Mann makes the Senior Center a comfortable place to visit.
Outstanding Practices
The Putnam County Master Gardeners are folks who work to teach others about gardening, about protecting our land and the wildlife it sustains, about raising food to feed our families and our friends, about creating beautiful outdoor living spaces.
On the third Saturday each March, the Master Gardeners host the annual Garden Fair at the fairgrounds. Just as spring is about to arrive, this event features all things garden related -- vendors selling plants, garden art, tools, bee hives, maple syrup products and more. Throughout the day, experts offer brief talks on things from successful gardening practices, to saving the bees and the butterflies, to landscaping guides.
Then, in early May, as the weather warms up, the Master Gardeners take starts from their own gardens to grow and sell in the annual plant auction. Plants that are auctioned off there are things that never appear in the box stores, but come from Putnam County gardens, grown successfully for years in Putnam County soil, with our climate, our growing conditions.
Another Master Gardener project is the offering of free seeds to anyone who wants them. Throughout the county, the Master Gardeners have placed seed libraries stocked with seeds that the gardeners have gleaned from their own gardens. Anyone can take seeds for raising food or flowers — always from varieties that thrive in this area. Later in the summer is the Putnam County Fair, and at Harris Hall -- the Horticulture and Ag Building -- Master Gardeners spend the week conducting the flower show, the garden show, the herb show, the AG show and the flower arrangements show. Master Gardeners also prepare and look after the gardens located at Harris Hall and the Community Building.
Also, the Master Gardeners work to sponsor scholarships for students who will be going into gardening-related or agriculture-related fields. Past scholarship winners have gone on to study ag education, horticulture, botany, agri-business and landscape business.
Organization of the Year
Founded in 1995, the same year as People Pathways, Friends of the Park has been a major funding source for the more than 20-mile trail system, in addition to dozens of other projects. Its first three projects focused on Greencastle’s Robe-Ann Park, beginning with “The Castle” playground and, in 2000, in partnership with the Greencastle Civic League, the “Emerald Palace” playground.
In 2003, Friends supported construction of the Greencastle Skatepark, one of the best concrete skateparks in the Midwest. Since then, other projects include support for Mary Rogers Field Park, Big Walnut Sports Park, the Jaycee Park Multi-Use Trail Project, construction of the Robe-Ann Park Bandshell and annual sponsorship of “Celebrate 4,” the countywide Independence Day celebration.
Friends of the Park of Putnam County is this county’s parks foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation whose mission is to help fund the continuation and creation of healthy activity options and the enjoyment, expansion and development of the county’s parks and outdoor recreation amenities.
In 2021, Friends joined a partnership with Putnam Parks & Pathways and the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau to establish the Putnam County Parks Board. Today, the four organizations share a staff and headquarters inside the Visitors Center to implement the county’s five-year outdoor recreation master plan as a collaborative effort with the Putnam County Board of Commissioners and the County Council. The partnership allows the organizations to share resources, collaborate and align direction and goals for a team approach to accomplishing the plan’s goals.
The Indiana DNR approved the county’s master plan that sees Friends of the Park playing the role of “funder.” As the county parks foundation, it seeks partnerships and grants, recruits and engages members, and focuses on building an endowment. One goal of the county’s five-year plan is for Friends to conclude the year 2026 with at least $500,000 in its endowment. The annual dividend and interest income will help fund the county’s outdoor recreation goals in perpetuity. Friends raised more than $100,000 last year and this year and will end 2023 with just shy of $220,000 in its endowment fund.
The organization is managed by an eight-person board of directors of residents from around the county who are passionate about quality of life in Putnam County.