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Master Gardener Gala
PROVIDENCE — Two long-time environmentalists and one state-wide organization will be honored Friday, March 28 for their contributions to the beautification and protection of the state’s natural assets.
Peggy Sharpe, Trudy Coxe and the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association will be presented with “Tradition of Excellence” awards by the Master Gardener Foundation of Rhode Island, the non-profit support arm of the University of Rhode Island’s Master Gardener Program.
The inaugural event is billed as a “gala fundraiser” for the foundation, founded to provide for the long-term needs of the master gardener program which offers outreach services throughout the state.
The event will be held at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center starting at 6 p.m. with food catered by Johnson & Wales University.
Sharpe is being cited for her long-time efforts on several environmental fronts including promoting the establishment of the RI Solid Waster Management Corp. She was a founding member of the India Point Park Committee, a member of the national board of governors of The Nature Conservancy and helped found the Rhode Island chapter of that group. She continues to advise the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program and is a member of the Conservation Law Foundation. She holds many awards including ones from The Nature Conservancy, Save the Bay, the state department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Most recently she and her husband, Henry, made a $1 million gift in support of the Land Conservation Collaborative to provide stewardship for preserved lands in the state.
Coxe was executive director of Save the Bay for 11 years and during her tenure led the effort to resolve sewage pollution problems affecting the bay and fostered public awareness of bay issues with such events as Swim the Bay. She served as director of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, worked on several marine sanctuary projects on the West Coast and is former Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs. She holds numerous awards including ones from the National Garden Clubs and the RI Hospitality and Tourism Association and honorary degrees from URI and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Currently she is executive director of the Preservation Society of Newport County and serves as a volunteer with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, the Community College of RI Foundation,
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the Conservation Law Foundation and the Audubon Society of RI.
The RI Nursery and Landscape Association are being cited for decades of promoting the state’s “green industry” and its support of URI. In 1994, the association donated the landscaping that is today the URI Botanical Gardens. It has donated operational funds for the gardens, has contributed to the hiring of a horticultural professor at URI, has established scholarships for plant science students at URI, has contributed memorial trees for the campus, donated plant materials for the Children’s Museum in South Providence and has continually supported the RI Spring Flower and Garden Show.
Tickets at $75 a person are still available by contacting the Master Gardener Foundation of RI, 3 East Alumni Ave., Kingston, RI. 02881, 874-2900.
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