Gorge Owned Announces Recipients of 9th Annual Awards

Many students learned a new skill - sewing - while learning about the environmental issues with single-use plastic bags. Springer also coordinated with Jeff O’Neal of Harvest Market, who agreed to sell the bags and give all proceeds back to reuse and recycle education in White Salmon schools.

The Renewal Workshop, based in Cascade Locks, is creating a circular economy in the apparel and textile industry by renewing products that would otherwise be deemed as “trash.”

The Renewal Project is putting local sewers to work repairing slightly damaged apparel and renewing them into new products. In addition to taking apparel out of the waste stream, The Renewal Workshop itself is a zero-waste business. The company uses state-of-the-art cleaning technology that uses recirculating carbon dioxide rather than water for cleaning products, and they also create something usable out of all of the items our brand partners send us. Plus, in just under a few years, they have created 25 new jobs.

Streets Alive Hood River started out as a wildly ambitious event and has since evolved into an advisory group providing recommendations to the City of Hood River around active transportation solutions that make our streets safer for pedestrians and people on bikes. Last September, Streets Alive, powered by a team of volunteers, closed streets to automobile traffic, so that children, young and old, could freely walk, bike, play or share food, music and art with their neighbors. They were committed to making their website and educational materials available in both English and Spanish and included stops at numerous locally owned businesses, many of which were minority-owned.

Adam Smith and his 6th grade Science Enrichment class at the Hood River Middle School were recognized for their powerful “Voices from the Land” stop-motion animation film about the Eagle Creek fire. With help from Arts in Education in the Gorge, the students created an engaging place-based study of the Eagle Creek fire. Using relatable language and playful illustrations, the film educates people about the impacts of wildfires, the rejuvenation process, and the importance of being good stewards of the places we love and the places that have been sacred to Native Americans for generations.

This annual award presented by Gorge Owned around Earth Day is named after Tod J. LeFevre, a longtime resident of Hood River and a true champion of sustainability. This award honors him and his humble determination to collaboratively tackle environmental problems, through his business and through community service.