Cox Conserves Heroes Awards $17,000 to San Diego-Area Environmental Heroes.

3,457 Votes Cast for Local Environmental Heroes

SAN DIEGO -- Thanks to rousing support from San Diegans, nearly 3,500 online votes were cast to identify the first-, second- and third-place youth and adult winners of the Cox Conserves Heroes awards program. In February, Cox Communications and The Trust for Public Land, launched the Cox Conserves Heroes program and solicited input from the public to nominate their favorite volunteer environmental heroes who continue to make great strides in ensuring a greener tomorrow. Ninety-eight nominations were received.

Sponsored by Think Blue San Diego and Stand for Less, the Cox Conserves Heroes program featured an online nomination process for the public to identify San Diego's everyday conservationists.

A judging panel including Brenda Schick and Courtney Ann Coyle, Esq. from The Trust for Public Land, Dr. Emily Young from The San Diego Foundation and Jennifer Nichols Kearns from Think Blue San Diego then selected three youth and three adult finalists. To help the public learn more about the nominees, the finalists were profiled on San Diego Insider Magazine on Channel 4 San Diego, and their stories were posted on www.4sd.com.

Through the online voting process via www.coxconservesheroes.com, San Diegans cast thousands of votes for their favorite finalists.

At a special ceremony hosted by Hotel Solamar, an eco-friendly Kimpton hotel located in downtown San Diego, the Cox Conserves Heroes in each category were presented with $5,000 to donate to their favorite environmental non-profit organization. The first- and second-place finalists in each category received $2,500 and $1,000, respectively, for the environmental non-profit of their choice. All finalists will be recognized on the field at the Padres game on August 22, 2009.

Cox Conserves Heroes:

$5,000 - (Youth) Sonya Vargas was one of two youth members who served on the steering committee for the Wetland Avengers/ Campeones de los Canones, a community-based habitat education and restoration event. Her strong leadership and communication skills mobilized and inspired an unengaged community to care for their canyon habitat. As a result, more than 950 volunteers participated in the event by planting 2,500 native plants, restoring two acres of canyon and wetland habitat, creating a school garden at the adjacent elementary school, and designing an outdoor classroom. Vargas will donate her prize to Aquatic Adventures Science Education Foundation.

$5,000 - (Adult) John Willett was nominated for his efforts with Reclaiming the Otay River Valley in the Otay Valley Regional Park (OVRP), a 13-mile unique urban river parkway in the South Bay. Willett, a World War II veteran who will turn 88 years old in June, has been volunteering in the park for more than two decades, dedicating countless hours in the planning, clean up and restoration of the park. As a result, an estimated 700 tires, 1,400 tons of trash and 150 homeless encampments have been removed. Thanks to John Willett's efforts, the Otay Valley, once treated as an unwanted wasteland, is now a valuable community resource for outdoor recreation and enjoyment of nature for all South Bay families. Willett will donate his prize money to Wildcoast.

Youth Finalists:

$2,500 - Jennifer Gold is the founder and president of Valhalla High School's Recycling Club. Through Gold's leadership the club placed recycling bins throughout the campus and now sorts and sends the recyclable materials to a recycling center, instead of sending these items to a public dump site. Valhalla's Recycling Club donates half of its recycling proceeds to Outreach International, a charity that works in 12 underdeveloped countries throughout the world to help those that live there overcome the devastating effects of poverty and hunger. Gold will donate her prize to Surfrider Foundation of San Diego.

$1,000 - Jose Mendoza, is a student at Hoover High School and the president of the Hoover Eco Club. Through his involvement with the Hoover Eco Club and other environmental organizations, Mendoza became an organizer of the Friends of Swan Canyon. Volunteer efforts including the removal of trash and non-native plants have reduced gang activity and the homeless population in the canyon. As one of Hoover Eco Club's most active members, he was recognized by the school for his participation in several school clean-ups. Mendoza will donate his prize to San Diego Canyonlands.

Adult Finalists:

$2,500 - Josie Hamada is an exemplary member of the San Ysidro Women's Club. Through the 9-11 One Hundred Cherry Tree Peace Grove project, Hamada's small community garden project was transformed into a county-wide attraction. The Beyer Elementary school playground used to be a barren, dirt lot until Hamada transformed it into a peaceful grove consisting of 100 cherry trees where students and community members alike can walk and sit to remember those who died in our tragic 9-11 attacks. Adjacent to the 9-11 One Hundred Cherry Tree Peace Grove is the Makaguchi Nature Garden consisting of drought resistant plants and native vegetation. Hamada will donate her prize money to Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.

$1,000 - Diane Nygaard formed Preserve Calavera, which has protected, preserved and added land to this beautiful watershed area in northern San Diego County. She was instrumental in the purchase of a 134-acre parcel in the Buena Vista Creek Valley located in Carlsbad known as the Sherman Acquisition. The land is strategically important for water quality, wildlife movement, Native American culture and early California history. Nygaard organized several successful public events to showcase this little valley and raised approximately $150,000. In addition, she has organized community clean-ups, held Wildlife Appreciation events, birding walks, and hosted cultural lectures about the valley. She will donate her prize money to Preserve Calavera.

The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens and natural areas, and Cox Enterprises, a leading communications, media and automotive services company. The program seeks to celebrate local conservation in communities across the country and is sponsored by Think Blue San Diego, the City of San Diego's award-winning Storm Water education and outreach program and Stand for Less, a collaborative of local and state partners who are working to make San Diego a more environmentally sustainable community.

The award money was provided by the Cox Kids Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Cox Communications in San Diego. The foundation is funded by Cox employees, who donate money directly from their paychecks and is then matched 100 percent by the company. The reception was sponsored by Hotel Solamar, a Kimpton hotel dedicated to Kimpton Cares and its initiative to make a positive social and environmental difference in their community.