A great neighbor finally gets awarded for being awesome. Local Petworth resident and amazing neighbor Carol Herwig is being recognized by Casey Trees with their Award for Partnership at the 2015 Canopy Awards. The award ceremony is April 23rd at Dock 5 at Union Market. (see below for link with more details)

Carol is a very deserving recipient of this award, which recognizes her leadership, time, effort, sweat equity and can-do attitude to ensure that Petworth, and all of DC, has the tree canopy cover it needs.

I spoke to Carol tonight about the award today. She was very flattered that she was nominated by her peers, and that the foundation selected her for the award. “I found out Monday that the award was official,” said Carol. “I feel real good about it, and appreciate that I was selected.”

According to Casey Trees, Carol can be credited for adding more than 250 trees to Petworth. She was also instrumental in the redesign of the park area between Georgia Avenue and 9th Street (below Upshur). The final design used by the city was very close to the early designs for the land that Carol submitted. She also works regularly with the Armed Services Retirement Home and the Rock Creek Cemetery. (As a matter of fact, this weekend she’s helping the Friends of the Soldiers Home plant 50 new trees at the AFRH. 86 people have volunteered to help plant the trees, and that doesn’t include staff.)

“It’s about the community connections and impact,” Carol said, in talking about why she works as hard as she does. “Getting different groups together from around the area is the way it should be. It doesn’t have to be one person throwing seeds into the wind in order to get things accomplished.”

As Casey Trees points out in their overview of Carol, she “has tirelessly sought out planting projects in the neighborhood, approaching groups and institutions about adding trees to their property using Casey Trees’ Community Tree Planting program and working with them to develop strong planting plans and spearhead the planting and post-planting care.”

Carol said that at this point, it’s rewarding to be able to “go to any ward and know that I’ve planted trees that are thriving. That’s especially true for here in Petworth.”

Carol is also involved with other volunteer efforts, including roles as vice president of the Friends at the Library, a board member at the Georgia Avenue Family Support Cooperative (where’s she been on the board since 2008), along with being the treasurer of the citywide Federation of Friends of the DC Public Libraries. (BTW, the GA Ave Family Support Cooperative is looking for new board members, as well as a CPA to volunteer with them. The Cooperative helps homeless families find housing and get out of DC General, as well as works to keep kids in school and not truant.)

Frankly, Carol is deserving of any award that recognizes her dedication to Petworth. Along with her husband, George Morgan, they have both spent countless hours tending the trees and flowers around Petworth, and picking up trash on a regular basis. Carol and George are inspirational neighbors who work hard to make Petworth a great neighborhood. I know ANC 4C has been thinking of starting their own awards program for local active residents, Carol and George make two great recipients.

Read more about Carol’s accomplishments and the award at the Canopy Awards overview page: http://bit.ly/1Fe505J

And if you want to attend the Awards and Fundraiser, here’s more info: http://bit.ly/1NUIpBJ

Three cheers for Carol! She's an outstanding neighbor to everyone in Petworth.

from Petworth News April 05, 2015 at 08:05PM