Huge Thanks!!!

[ljjames]

I want to personally thank all of you who took a moment out of your busy day to vote and help me win the 2012 Cox Conserves Hero Award from KIRO 7, Cox Enterprises and the Trust for Public Land.

The prize money goes to my non-profit of choice which was not an easy decision. I chose Sustainable West Seattle to support a small, local, grass roots organization and specifically the "Don't Feed the Monster" program, started by a very cool lady named Cate White with a grant from The Russell Family Foundation. The Tox-Ick.org campaign is primarily focused on topside solutions (this is where the problem is coming from) but you can see from their media that protecting the underwater world and its inhabitants is also a primary concern.

Although the "Seven Simple Solutions" for reducing the flow of contaminated storm water into the local body of water is nothing new, Cate has written and organized the information in a format that can be readily taken out to the community whilst also supporting the local agencies that have put tremendous effort into programs. She did not want to reinvent the wheel, just gather up all the resources and put them in a readily consumable format.

Be it three people over coffee at lunch, a church basement, community center, a library full of people after school, your local Rotary club or Community business leaders monthly meeting, this program is for everyone. It is an open source Powerpoint presentation, complete with teaching/lecture notes for the presenter to read (takes away some of the worry of forgetting your lines on the first go round or two). Basically anyone with an interest in helping educate their community about steps every one of us can take to help reduce the flow of contaminants from storm water can give the presentation!

It is my hope that by helping facilitate a bit of funding to this small group, that they can continue to 'get the word out' and expand the reach of the program beyond West Seattle to Sustainable Communities All Over Puget Sound (http://scallops.ning.com). With more and continued funding the dream would be the West Coast and ultimately nationwide.

Again, thank you for your time and your vote!

[Rockfish]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fmerkel]

Great job! My thanks to a person that gives a lot of time and caring to the entire community both above and certainly below water. You deserve the recognition.

Fritz

[Grateful Diver]

Yeah ... what Fritz said ... thank you Laura, for your time, effort, and caring.

Us local divers are so fortunate to have a place where we can pursue our passion pretty much whenever and wherever we like ... and we're equally fortunate to have people in our community who are willing to put effort into keeping it that way.

I appreciate what you're doing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)