Environmental Action

Village Church Wins

Environmental Excellence Award

Pictured from left to right are Chuck Gillam, Jerry Rees, Sallie Veenstra, Rev. Dwight Tawney, April Schmidt, and Rick Heinze

In November 2005, Village Church received Bridging the Gap’s Environmental Excellence Award for Non-Profit Organizations. Bridging the Gap is an environmental education and advocacy organization headquartered in KC, MO. Each year they give local Environmental Excellence Awards in the following categories: individual, for-profit business, and non-profit organization.

This award is the culmination of three years of environmental initiatives: In October 2002, at the urging of the Justice, Peace, & Environment Committee (JPEC), the Session authorized a program that has become known as Sustainable Sanctuary. This commitment to Sustainable Sanctuary was reaffirmed in February 2005. The goal of Sustainable Sanctuary is to reduce our church's environmental impact and to practice and model faithful and responsible stewardship of God's Creation.