We want to recognize the people who are making a difference in the world by taking action on the issues that are important to them and to the rest of us. These people are our grassroots heroes! Please inform us about the good guys in your community so that we can continue to recognize these inspiring individuals.
Cynthia PryorYellow Dog Watershed Preserve
In her work as executive director of the tiny 501(c)3 Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Cynthia Pryor of Big Bay, Mich., works -- tirelessly and solo -- to protect the pristine wilderness, streams and ground water in Michigan's largely unpowered, unpaved Yellow Dog Plains.
Pryor founded YDWP in 1995, and as its only employee, she's had her work cut out for her. Things began heating up in 2002, when mining company Kennecott Mineral Explorations discovered a small mineral deposit of nickel and copper on the plains. The company wanted to develop harmful underground sulfide mining there, potentially damaging both the Salmon-Trout River (which provides spawning and nursery ground for a rare native breed of Michigan trout) and the Yellow Dog River, which supports many rare species from the moose and the wolf to the peregrine falcon.
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Lorraine KerwoodFounder/Executive Director of NextStep Recycling
Lorraine Kerwood, now 47, grew up in a family of 11 children. Money was always scarce, and so Lorraine started working at age 10 to help stretch things along. Because of this, as well as the fact that she was diagnosed as autistic and a labeled a special education child very early on, Lorraine never believed she could ever "be" anything important - or even that she could compete on an equal footing with other people.
To her surprise, when a friend prodded her into getting a college education she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Oregon, with a bachelor's degree in Family and Community Services. With this she went to work as a Social Service Specialist in the Oregon Department of Child Welfare in 2000, out of a desire to help kids who were in situations similar to her own experiences.
Because of her own struggles, Lorraine has always been determined to do whatever she could to make life easier for other children than it was for her growing up. It was out of this desire NextStep (originally called MacRenewal) was born. Lorraine found she had a knack at fixing computers, and so she set about finding old ones, refurbishing them, and then gifting them to children and families who couldn't afford to buy them - many of them the people with whom she was working with at Child Welfare.
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Reggie HallOne person's idea can make a difference
Pinellas County's environmental lands have been suffering under a triple whammy. - Some people regarded these precious natural areas as their own personal dumping grounds for trash. Invasive plant species such as air potato and Brazilian pepper were overrunning and choking out the native plants in the preserves. And the county's environmental lands maintenance staff simply wasn't large enough to keep ahead of it all.
Thanks to one caring individual with a creative idea, and refreshing collaboration among county departments, a method may have been found to stave off disaster in the county's preserves and management areas.
Reggie Hall, 56, lives beside the county's smallest nature preserve, the 8.3-acre Ozona Preserve in North Pinellas. In fact, it was Hall who nearly 20 years ago persuaded county officials to start buying the land that now makes up that preserve.
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Neil TurnerCitizens Advocating Responsible Development
As president of Citizens Advocating Responsible Development, Neil Turner fought the construction of a proposed 520-megawatt gas-fired electric power plant in the Glenville Industrial Park (GEP) near Schenectady, N.Y., starting in 1999. With wealthy, powerful backers like General Electric and Duke energy, and bought-off, rubber-stamping politicians ushering its progress, the project appeared a done deal. But after constant pressure from Turner and a careful tactical approach, years of fighting paid off.
The original project plans by plant developers had the GEP buying water from the city of Schenectady and using the nearby village of Scotia's sewer system for waste water disposal. With pressure from Turner, Schenectady's City Council eventually opted against selling the GEP water, and the town government of Scotia voted to deny use of the sewer system. Both Duke Energy and General Electric eventually pulled out of the project, putting the developer's dreams on ice. By the end of 2003, the power park was doomed, and the project's offices were closed.
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