2018 Ellen Fraites Wagner Award: Reverend Gail A. Addison
President/CEO, End Time Harvest Ministries, Prince George’s County
Ellen Fraites Wagner, a colleague of Governor Harry Hughes, helped establish the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and this award, named in her honor, recognizes a natural resources leader who works or volunteers to motivate and inspire others by promoting environmental awareness. This description perfectly fits Reverend Gail A. Addision. Reverend Addison is the CEO and Founder of End Time Harvest Ministries, Inc. (ETHM), a faith-based, community and school-based non-profit organization founded in 1996 and based in Prince George’s County. End Time Harvest Ministries is bridging education, poverty, health, and moral gaps in urban communities through its Bridging The Gap (BTG) initiative which focuses on equipping youth with workforce readiness, leadership, and character skills and engaging youth in community service. ETHMs programs and initiatives empower youth to remain in school and graduate on time and enter college and/or the workforce upon graduation. Annually, ETHM partners with local watershed societies and others to engage youth and families in stormwater management projects such as Earth Day celebrations, tree plantings, establishing and maintaining community gardens, working on ECO City’s Port Towns’ Farms, storm drain stenciling, and placing students in summer jobs with Prince George’s County businesses to work on stormwater management projects. Reverend Addison’s leadership has earned ETHM the distinguished Maryland Nonprofits Award—Standards for Excellence Accreditation. The success of her organization is a testament to her ability to inspire others.
2018 Student of the Year Scholarship: Mercedes Thompson
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore City
Mercedes Thompson is a senior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, and has been actively involved in the environmental movement from a young age. She began doing marine biology work at the National Aquarium’s Henry Hall Summer Camps, and has continued her love throughout high school. She is actively involved in the environmental club at Poly, and started a high school synthetic biology research team at the Baltimore Underground Science Space, where she and her team are developing a bacterial remediation model capable of breaking down PET plastic in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Most notably, however, is Mercedes’ role as Communications Director of the local environmental organization, Baltimore Beyond Plastic, which she co-founded in December of 2016.
2018 The Honorable Arthur Dorman Scholarship: Darrea Frazier
Homeschooled, Baltimore City
This award was named after Senator Arthur Dorman, Trust board member and pioneer in efforts to engage individuals of color in natural resources issues, and is awarded to a student of color who is active in connecting environment and community issues. This year’s awardee, Darrea Frazier, is a 15 year old homeschooled student and is dual enrolled in the Gifted and Talented program at The Community College of Baltimore County. She is an award winning artist in addition to being award winning environmentalist. A veteran volunteer at Patterson Park Audubon Center, Darrea co-led a program without staff supervision at the age of 12. She was recently selected for the National Aquarium’s prestigious Aquarium on Wheels Work-Study program. She is a Six-time National American Miss Maryland State Finalist and has won over 30 awards with NAM including the coveted Heart of Service Award last August.
2018 Educator of the Year: Francis J. Cardo
Cecil County Public Schools
The Environmental Educator of the Year is awarded to a K-12 educator who has shown an outstanding commitment to environmental education. Francis (Frank) Cardo has been in education for over 25 years. He has worked as an educator in Florida, North Carolina, and Maryland. He has been a high school science teacher, a high school Assistant Principal, and now serves as the Program Coordinator for Science and STEM for Cecil County Public Schools. Frank has been instrumental in embedding systemic environmental education into the curriculum for every student during every academic year in the Cecil County Public Schools. He has established creative partnerships to further teacher professional development, including collaborations with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NorthBay Adventure Camp, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, and the Department of Public Works of Cecil County. Thanks to Frank’s leadership, Cecil County is now home to 9 Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education Green Schools. Frank is an inspiration to students, teachers, and the community and his work to educate the next generation of environmental stewards will be an enduring legacy.
2018 Commercial Stewards Award: Shockley Honda
Frederick County
This award, established to honor previous Chairpersons of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, recognizes an outstanding corporate or commercial entity that strives to make a difference in the community, has made a significant contribution to natural resource restoration and protection in the Chesapeake region, and engages its employees and members of the community in environmental issues. Shockley Honda is a family owned and operated dealership with a long-standing legacy of community involvement and community service. It is their mission to serve the community that supports them. They support numerous charitable causes, notably the Maryland School for the Deaf, and have made the dealership a community space hosting special events, offering complimentary yoga classes, American Sign Language classes, and more. This spring the team at Shockley Honda enthusiastically embraced the Trust’s “Just Ask!” Bay Plate sales contest, winning in all four contest categories and increasing their Bay Plate sales by more than 60%. They are truly a model for the positive impact that car dealers can make on our environment and natural resources.
2018 Melanie Teems Award: Housing Initiative Partnership, Inc.
Prince George’s County
Named after the longest-serving staff member of the Trust, this award recognizes an exemplary project or program that engages residents in efforts to improve the region’s natural resources, serving as a model for other organizations. Housing Initiative Partnership, Inc. is an innovative, green nonprofit housing developer based in Prince George’s county. HIPs accomplishments are many, though the award particularly honors their Home Restoration Program’s work with Prince George’s County’s Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative which focuses on lifting up neighborhoods that have faced significant economic, health, public safety, and educational challenges. Through their work in the Kentland/Palmer Park neighborhood they have installed approximately 25 rain barrels, removed over 4,000 square feet of concrete, installed 3,735 square feet of permeable pavers, and planted over 200 street trees. They acquired and rehabbed 6 vacant homes which were then sold to first-time homebuyers. They will soon begin construction on 9 new attached homes in Palmer Park on undeveloped land which will be built to the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Net Zero Ready” standard. HIP’s Home Restoration Program creates a groundswell of resident engagement in neighborhood improvements, encouraging residents to invest in their homes and property, and alerting them to the availability of funds to assist with critical home repairs, while creating an overall sense of community pride.
