NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN

Each January, we feature students from Intown’s public schools, private schools and colleges who have given back to their community in a significant way. Over the last ten years, we’ve featured students who have created their own nonprofits, have given up summer vacation to work domestically and abroad to help the less fortunate and one even helped build a library by collecting books.

The 12th annual 20 Under 20 will appear in our January 2020 issue and we are now seeking nominations of students ages 19 and younger who have committed themselves to service to the community. Nominations are welcome from teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, siblings, fellow students or community leaders. Here’s the information we need:

• Nominator (name, relationship to nominee and contact information)

• Nominee (Name, age, grade, school, parent or guardian names, contact information)

• Characteristics and service: Please provide a paragraph describing why this nominee deserves recognition. Include service projects, goals, interests and areas of interest to help illustrate your point.

The deadline for nominations is Nov. 15. Please email your nominations to editor Collin Kelley at collin@atlantaintownpaper.com.

▲ The nonprofit Blue Heron Nature Preserve has met its $750,000 goal to finish a new three-mile trail network known as the Blueway Trail. Once two major bridges are in place before the end of the year, all three parcels of the nature preserve will be easily accessible by a continuous trail. “Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our board, generous gifts from local foundations and individuals, we have completed the largest capital campaign our young organization has ever undertaken,” executive director Kevin McCauley said. “Plans for Phase 2 include linking Blue Heron’s trails to nearby Chastain Park and PATH 400.”

The Atlanta Audubon Society is accepting applications for funding “bird-friendly improvements” in green spaces. The 2020 Habitat Restoration Fund program will fund such improvements as invasive species removal, native plant installation, design services for gardens or habitats, bird monitoring and community programs. Green spaces ranging in size from 50 square feet to 3 acres are eligible, and the locations can be in several metro Atlanta counties, including DeKalb and Fulton. City governments and community or friends’ groups, and other property managers can apply. “Atlanta Audubon and its partners play an important role in creating bird resiliency in the Southeast,” said Nikki Belmonte, Atlanta Audubon’s executive director, in a press release. “The Habitat Restoration Fund aims to increase high-quality habitat for birds while also increasing community partnerships and educational outreach. Through our collaborative conservation and engagement programs, we are building places where birds and people thrive.” The 2019 funds went to Atlanta’s Candler Park and Tucker’s Henderson Park. The 2020 application deadline is Sept. 2, with a chosen project site announced in late October. For more details, visit atlantaaudubon.org.

Tickets are now on sale for the one of the Southeast’s largest eco-benefits, the Captain Planet Foundation’s Annual Benefit Gala. The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Flourish (3143 Maple Drive) from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Single tickets are $750, $1,500 per couple, and corporate tables start at $5,000. Information and tickets are available at captainplanetfoundation.org/ gala.

With more than four years in service, a new monthly pop-up recycling event in Buckhead and 250,000 tons of goods recycled, Atlanta’s Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) has plenty to celebrate at its annual fundraiser party A CHaRM’ing Evening. Tickets are on sale now for the Oct. 3 event at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, which will include a performance from Yacht Rock Revue and the opportunity to win a three-year lease on a 2019 BMW i3 from Global Imports. Tickets are $40 at charmbmw.org.

By Julie Chalpan

Community Gardens have been popular for years and are usually associated with leisure. However, a recent collaboration between Atlanta-based real estate investment firm EpiCity and garden experts Natural Born Tillers (NBT) has led to an urban farm experience at several EpiCity properties.

EpiCity’s President Tom Stokes was introduced to Cory Mosser, founder and CEO of NBT, through a mutual friend, Dan Parson, the award-winning Oxford College at Emory University farmereducator. Just 700 feet from Oxford’s main campus is an unusual living laboratorythe Oxford College Organic Farm. This 11acre tract was for a very long time the Fran and Marshal Elizer homestead. Both longtime members of the Oxford college faculty and staff, the Elizer’s influence lives on through the land they gave to the college in 2011. Having worked well for years in the college setting, it is now successful in office parks, where interest, along with fruits and vegetables, is growing.

Mosser has been a farmer his entire adult life. At one point he realized there was a whole new market out there for farming; corporate entities could benefit from urban farming by including nutrition, as well as aesthetis, in their landscaping. Recently he began work as a farming consultant. Today he teaches various constituencies and demonstrates the value of farming beyond nutrition.

EpiCity friend and Sizemore Group architect and CEO Bill de St. Aubin is a huge proponent of creating engaging, sustainable urban spaces. Urban agriculture is a relative new area of interest to him. His recent focus is on a new initiative of the Urban Land Institute, the agrihood – communities developed around sustainability including locally grown, organic foods. Of the EpiCity urban farming project, de St. Aubin said, “This is a great use of landscaping in the EpiCity communities promoting health and social interaction. It brings people together and is a perfect amenity to offer. Stoke’s crew continues to create exciting spaces and now a healthy atmosphere with these urban gardens.”

EpiCity was NBT’s first customer to establish edible landscaping in a business community. “These gardens create curated spaces and engage employees,”said Cory. “It gives working folks in the office park access to nature in an urban setting, and a chance to disengage from work for a few minutes to enjoy their sense of smell, taste and touch – and even get their hands dirty.”

Andrea Richard, Director of Operations and Education for Natural Born Tillers, is overseeing the gardens at Powers Ferry Business Park, tending to the gardens