Earth Week Winners Announced, Feedback sought

By Melanie Stewart

Earth Week was a little cold and rainy this year, but that didn’t stop us from having fun!  We celebrated our new 2030 goals, had our first booth at Earth Day Omaha, saw how creative, resourceful, and talented our fellow colleagues are in the Re-Purpose It contest, collected items from your home for appropriate recycling, brought in lots of subject matter experts to answer your questions and provide you with information (and free stuff!), taste-tested vegan chocolate chip cookies, planted a tree, gave away free trees and seeds, and last but not least, got expert advice from Master Gardeners.

So we want to know what you thought!  Please click on the link below to take our less than 2-minute survey.  Your feedback will help us to know what to do, or not do, next Earth Week and what changes we can make so it’s even better.

Click here for Earth Week Survey.

Re-Purpose It Contest Winners:

• Grand Prize, Winner of popular vote:

• #1 Bret Gardner, MD/PhD Student; Cedar fence pieces into dining benches.
  • Receives a 20-minute chair massage from the Wellness Center ($20 Value) and $25 Gift Card to Union Junktion Store.

• Second Place in popular vote:

• #31 Cynthia Pickinpaugh, Patient Financial Counselor, UNL Health Center; Toddler bed into garden bench
  • Receives a $20 HyVee gift card courtesy of Sodexo

• Third Place in popular vote:

• #19 Deana Sorgenfrei, Prof Coding Sr. Assoc, Orthopaedic Revenue Cycle; Fire pit lid to solar gazebo chandelier
  • Receives a hot/cold tumbler, Bobble filtering water bottle, and 8GB USB drive

• 2 Winners selected by LiveGreen Ambassadors:

• #11, Tuire Cechin, Program Coordinator for Path/Micro, IPID; Wall sheeting, lumber scraps, pallet pieces, netting, hollow plant stems into a pollinator house.
  • Receives a $25 gift certificate to The UNMC Bookstore
• #4, Patty Ostronic, Volunteer Services Lead; Wedding Dress into pillows, tree skirt/bag, sachets, wreath, and rosary bag
  • Receives a $25 gift certificate to The Company Store

Winners of 10-minute chair massage from Sustainability Expo feedback drawing:

• Pam Welch, Vice Chancellor for Research Office
• Anne Skinner, AH Research Administration

We’ll get information gathered from our recycling event, the rest of Earth Week and the effect it had, and bring that to you in a future article.

Thanks for helping to make Earth Week a success and for your valuable feedback.