Kim MacQuarrie and Ciara Byrne Receive 2016 Compassionate Cities Award
LAS VEGAS – Kim MacQuarrie and Ciara Byrne, founders of Las Vegas-based nonprofit Green Our Planet, were honored by Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman with the Compassionate Hero Award during the 2016 Compassionate Cities Award Ceremony. The award recognizes people whose kindness and service has made a positive impact in our community. In addition to the award, the winners received a $5,000 donation for the non-profit of their choice, Green Our Planet. MacQuarrie accepted the award and check at a ceremony in Las Vegas City Hall on Wed. Oct. 19th, 2016.
“Ciara and I are honored to receive the Compassionate Hero award. We have worked hard over the last three and a half years to help jumpstart a city-wide school garden movement in Las Vegas and it’s exciting to see our vision come to life and for such a large number of students, organizations and teachers take up the banner,” said Kim MacQuarrie.
UNLV professor and philanthropist Gard Jameson nominated the duo for their work in creating the successful Outdoor Garden Classroom Program in Las Vegas. Over the past three and a half years, Green Our Planet has established one of the largest school garden projects in the nation. The organization has helped fund nearly 100 gardens to Las Vegas schools, impacting over 60,000 students and 3,000 teachers by providing a hands-on approach to teaching science, math and healthy nutrition to CCSD students. Green Our Planet also raises money for green projects, which are ideas established by individuals or groups that provide solutions to environmental problems. For more information on Green Our Plant, please visit www.greenourplanet.org.
ABOUT GREEN OUR PLANET
Green Our Planet is a nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to use outdoor garden classrooms as a powerful teaching tool to increase test scores in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), improve student nutrition and increase community engagement so that schools and local communities become more sustainable. Founded in 2013, Green Our Planet has helped fundraise and build 100 outdoor garden classrooms in the Clark County School District, thus creating the largest school garden program in the Western United States and the second largest in the nation. Green Our Planet currently works with more than 3,000 teachers and impacts more than 60,000 students. Learn more at www.greenourplanet.org
Green Our Planet is a nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to use outdoor garden classrooms as a powerful teaching tool to increase test scores in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), improve student nutrition and increase community engagement so that schools and local communities become more sustainable. Founded in 2013, Green Our Planet has helped fundraise and build 100 outdoor garden classrooms in the Clark County School District, thus creating the largest school garden program in the Western United States and the second largest in the nation. Green Our Planet currently works with more than 3,000 teachers and impacts more than 60,000 students. Learn more at www.greenourplanet.org
For more information about the organization, please visit http://www.greenourplanet.org/.