The Venice Urban Forest is being honored with our first Venice Spirit Award for 2021. The local nature-loving nonprofit is being recognized for its ongoing efforts to revitalize a 33-acre section of land running along the Intercoastal Waterway bordering Venice Island. The group is part of Venice Area Beautification, Inc. and its local efforts are part of a national movement to plant more trees in urban areas.
     The nearly 2-mile stretch of land that was formerly used as a railroad line runs from East Venice Avenue to Center Road. More than 1,200 trees have been planted since April 2018 in addition to more than 36 different species of native plants. The ongoing effort is attracting diverse wildlife including a wide variety of birds according to the group’s Project Coordinator Phillip Ellis.
    “The last count of birds by the Audubon Society found more than 81 species including migratory songbirds,” Phil noted. “Another benefit of our efforts is the greenbelt provides a natural buffer that helps to filter polluted stormwater runoff before it flows into the waterway.
     Please join us in congratulating the staff, board and volunteers associated with Venice Urban Forest for their well-deserved award. Learn more about the nonprofit group at VeniceUrbanForest.com.
     Our inaugural Venice Spirit Award was presented to Linda Best with Venice Island Gallery in 2019. Our first two North Port Spirit Award recipients were Traci Dalrymple with Kokokahn Pure Essential Oils in 2019 and the North Port Art Center in 2020. We’ve also presented Venice Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dr. Barbara Gaunt-Jaehne with Medical Gardens Hearing Center and Mike Levine with Home Instead Senior Care of Venice.
     We are also announcing in our sister magazine Englewood Healthy Living that Englewood Community Care Clinic is receiving our first Englewood Spirit Award for 2021. The nonprofit provides no-cost medical services to under-served residents. Prior recipients of this award include Dr. Noël Crosby with Advanced Hearing Solutions, Paige Taylor with Hooked on SUP, One More Day Foundation, and Englewood Loving Light Yoga Center.
     We also honored the late Lee Reid of Reid’s Nutrition Center with our first Englewood Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. We renamed the award in her honor and presented the inaugural Lee Reid Lifetime Achievement Award to artist Carroll Swayze in 2020. And finally, our inaugural Sarasota County Spirit Award was presented to Lee Perron in 2020. Lee manages the Englewood, Venice, and Braves Farmers Markets. – Randy Moore