One of our watershed residents, Liz McBride, recently took up the cause of promoting the installation of rain gardens during a recent street reconstruction process. Liz learned that the City of Madison had received a grant which lowered the cost of a terrace rain garden for eligible property owners to $100 for a limited time. The city did send out a notice to property owners but Liz thought more effort would be necessary to raise awareness of this incredible opportunity. Liz wrote and distributed a flyer explaining the opportunity, the benefits of rain gardens and how to sign up. She then spent an afternoon walking around the neighborhood, handing out flyers and talking to neighbors about the program. Friends of Lake Wingra followed up with residents a few weeks later to remind them about the opportunity and the upcoming deadline. Due to Liz’s efforts, signups for the program increased from two rain gardens to nine rain gardens!
Friends of Lake Wingra would like to thank Liz for her excellent service which will be a great benefit for the South Owen Drive neighborhood, the environment and the Lake Wingra watershed. She has set a great example for actions that motivated people can take to improve their community! By putting in extra effort and making connections with city employees and neighbors she was able to ensure an increased level of success!
We would also like to encourage anyone who lives in the Lake Wingra Watershed to let us know if they know of similar projects that they might like to help facilitate but might need a bit of assistance with their efforts. Friends of Lake Wingra is a small organization but we can expand our impact by working with other people who care about the environment, the community and Lake Wingra.