EcoWise Community Award Winners 2012

• For the best Community Edible Garden that is tended and utilised by the community
• Winner: Epping Esplanade Community Garden
• Well organised and tended community garden with regular working bees, composting facilities and great community engagement. All gardens are communal and neighbours love popping by for fresh herbs.

Rata Award

• For the Caretaker in a Waitakere school who is making a difference to the school environment through their ongoing pride, actions and care
• Winner: Sandra Fletcher, Kaurilands School
• Sandra is passionate about caring for and upgrading the creek area in Kaurilands School. Her ecological restoration work is outstanding. Overwhelmingly popular with students – comments include “Mrs Fletcher is stupendous because she keeps our environment clean and lets us plant in the sticky mud!

Kahikatea Award

• For the Teacher who empowers students to take action to create a sustainable community
• Winner: Russell French, Henderson Primary
• For many years, Russell has tirelessly motivated Henderson Primary school students to care for the planet and community. The school has a native plant nursery that propagates seedlings to help fight Kauri die back.

Puriri Award

• For the best School Grounds, edible garden tended by students, that are litter, weed and graffiti-free and/or feature composting facilities and plant propagation sites
• Winner: New Lynn Primary
• Inspired by their passionate teacher Jo Anna Crosby, the students have created dishes for sale at school such as beetroot chutney and lemon curd, they have installed a scarecrow and have a worm farm along with new planters and fruit trees with veges around them.

Kowhai Award

• For student leadership, whose positive actions have helped beautify West Auckland
• Winner: Flanshaw Road Primary School – Memorial garden group and Maori garden group
• Students researched, planned and created a memorial garden to commemorate the Christchurch earthquakes and the Japanese Earthquakes and Tsunami.
• Alysia came up with the idea to create a Maori vegetable garden to learn more about plants and herbs and have a boil up at the end of the year.

Totara Award

• Most active group of volunteers working in the community to beautify West Auckland by reducing litter, weeds and/or graffiti
• Winner: Dera Sacha Sauda
• Hard working Dera Sacha Sauda have helped plant over 8000 native, eco-sourced plants this year along with weeding and mulching the banks of Waitakere streams and reserves. The size of the group has created a great momentum for large scale projects. They plant with a smile and provide lunch of chai and chapattis for everyone. They benefit the environment immensely with their enthusiasm and actions.

Kauri Award

• Most active individual volunteer working in the community to beautify West Auckland by reducing litter, weeds and/or graffiti
• Winner: Camilla Ashley-Wilson
• Camilla is constantly active as the local sustainability coordinator. Clearing roadsides of weeds and litter, replanting and helping transform the grounds at Waitakere Primary into a fertile and abundant oasis.

Brent Peters Award

• For the contractor who goes over and beyond the call of duty to help educate groups and residents of West Auckland around graffiti vandalism issues
• Winner: Monique Bridge
• Monique is one of three Tag out Trust Parks Operators who removes graffiti in New Lynn, Green Bay, Titirangi, Huia and Glen Eden. She does an exceptional job and is one of the first people to put her hand up to give a colleague a helping hand.