What do the president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Boston Bruins, the Waves Car Wash
Grace Church, Medford Green Team members Jonathan Hunt and Linda Rodgers with EPA Region 1 coordinator Curt Spaulding
in West Roxbury and Grace Church in Medford all have in common?
They were among the 19 Massachusetts individuals, groups and businesses honored with environmental merit awards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), given out at Faneuil Hall in Boston on May 11.
The awards recognize contributions that the EPA deems valuable to environmental awareness and problem solving. Grace Church's Green Up Clean Up Team got the honor for organizing a citywide parks clean-up effort last year, mobilizing more than 250 people to pick up trash, paint tables and benches, rake leaves, spread mulch and sand and generally improve public spaces in Medford.
Their efforts inspired other groups and residents unaffiliated with the church to organanize additional clean-ups. In the end, eight parks got greened up and cleaned up.
"We wouldn't have been able to make such a difference without the amazing outpouring of support from the Medford community and local businesses," team member Jonathan Hunt said.