Earth Day Canada (EDC), with support from the RBC Foundation and Mill Street Brewery, has chosen the Lower Mainland Green Team (LMGT) as a group winner among EDC’s 2013 Hometown Heroes.
LMGT, based in Surrey, connects community members with nature and mobilizes them to take action to improve the quality of fragile ecosystems in local parks.
Since its inception, LMGT has grown to over 1,500 volunteers, run 75 stewardship/habitat restoration events in 11 Lower Mainland municipalities, removed 50,000 lbs. of invasive plants, planted 2,946 native plants and trees, removed 2,033 lbs. of garbage, harvested 702 vegetables, and prepared vegetable beds at five farms.
“Receiving the Earth Day Hometown Heroes Group Award is a great honour and sends volunteers a strong message – that their work is important, highly valued, appreciated and respected,” says Lyda Salatian, LMGT founder and director. “When the Lower Mainland Green Team was first founded in 2011 we didn’t know where it would go and to receive a National Environmental Award just over two years later – wow, that’s way beyond anything we could have hoped for. It’s a major boost that will help propel us forward to continue to make a major difference to our local environment.”
“These people are shining examples of those making significant strides towards creating a healthier environment,” said Jed Goldberg, president of EDC. “They have been instrumental in creating change at the local level and deserve national recognition for their community-based conservation; responsible business practices, and community engagement efforts.”
The Hometown Heroes Award Program was established in 2004 by EDC to recognize and celebrate environmental leaders who foster meaningful, long-term community awareness and action.
For more information, visit http://earthday.ca/hometown/ or http://bit.ly/kJTIAx for a listing of LMGT meetups.
