A session on “Planting Hope: Engaging Faith-based Communities in Plants for Birds,” engaged a full room at the July National Audubon Convention in Milwaukee. ASNV’s Audubon at Home Co-Director Robin Duska described how Audubon at Home has built on pioneering work by its outreach partner, Plant NOVA Natives, to certify faith community properties as Wildlife Sanctuaries and to obtain a grant from the Coleman and Susan Burke Center for Native Plants in 2018 for six northern Virginia Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith communities, whose gardens and educational programs are now in bloom.
Also, on the program, Tom Tribble, immediate past President of the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society in North Carolina, described EMAS’s work with a Catholic church with a large Hispanic community. John Rowden, the National Audubon Society’s Director of Community Conservation, moderated the session.