There isn’t a “Patron Saint of Solar Panels” but perhaps there should be after a priest blessed the 283 new solar panels on the roof at Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview last October and the church recently received an award from the village for its environmental sustainability efforts.
“It shows the village of Glenview that we’re trying to move forward and make the world a better place with renewable energy and hopefully others will learn from what we did,” said church member and environmentalist, George Nassos.
“The sad things about putting solar panels on our roof is that nobody sees them,” he added. “With this award they know what we did and others can follow suit.”
Glenview’s annual Environmental Sustainability Awards are given each year in recognition of local organizations taking the lead with “environmental stewardship, implementation of best practices and community outreach,” the village said in a release. The five awards were presented to winners by the Village Board of Trustees on Jan. 23, as part of the village’s Environmental & Natural Resources Commission’s Environmental Sustainability Awards program.
“The Village encourages local organizations to adopt practices that help prevent pollution, reduce waste, conserve energy, reduce emissions to air and water and boost recycling,” said the release. “Meeting these sustainability challenges starts at home, in the workplace and in our schools. The Village aims to highlight the success stories of organizations within the community so that, if replicated, others will be spurred to collaborate and share strategies, policies, procedures and best practices for environmentally sustainable practices.”
Nominees were considered in three categories including “Innovation, Leadership, and Education & Outreach. “
Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in the 1400 block of Wagner Road won in the “Innovation” category and the Village Treasure House resale shop in the 1400 block of Paddock Drive, Northbrook, won in the “Education & Outreach” category.
The Village Treasure House “re-homed” more than 15,000 items last year, the release from the village said, adding that the group also emphasizes reusing materials like bags, ribbon, wrapping paper and tags, reducing the purchase of supplies allowing more funds to go back to their programs. Proceeds from the nonprofit support charities in 15 north and northwest suburbs.
“Our goal is to give away as much money to these agencies as we can,” said Deedee Brannigan, director of intake and merchandising with the shop.
“We reuse as much as we can,” she said. “Everything that we’re selling is recycled. We’re selling used home décor. We have pictures, lamps, furniture, rugs and artwork, all kinds of things.”
“For the last few years they’ve been asking their customers and cosigners to bring in their own boxes, wrapping paper and bubble wrap,” she added. “This past year we only had to order one order of those kinds of things because we had so much.”
Other winners include “Greener Glenview” in the “Innovation” category for establishing the “Glenview Native Habitat” program with the goal of increasing the number of native and connecting habitats in the community. The Princeton Village Homeowners Association also got an award for “Innovation” after it conducted a tree inventory to “understand the diversity of the community’s trees and maintain the tree canopy for future residents to enjoy.”
“An arborist measured and assessed the health of each of the community’s trees and used the information to plan routine maintenance and prioritize trees that need additional care to ensure their longevity,” the release from the village said.
And the Valley Lo Towers Apartments recycling team was given an award in the “Education & Outreach” category because the team “has the goal to reduce waste through promoting best practices in recycling, re-use, and disposal to building residents.”
“The Committee created education and outreach materials while also working with various service providers to create engaging outreach materials that promote recycling to residents,” said the release.
Nassos said that he believes that environmental sustainability efforts have a common goal.
“God created the earth for us and we should benefit from it and not destroy it and make sure that we leave something for the future generations,” he said.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
