The U.S. Bank Parks Champion Award recognizes individuals who provide outstanding volunteer service to a park, community center, natural area or community garden. The two winners each receive the opportunity to direct a $1,500 grant from PPF to a community organization that aligns with our vision: to help Portland communities create more equitable access to nature, play, health, and places of connection.
We had 37 outstanding nominations this year. Please read about each of them here. Get inspired, learn about new opportunities to volunteer and how to support organizations where they volunteer.
Some of the nomination highlights include:
Service spanning decades to places like Leach Botanical Gardens,Forest Park, Mt. Tabor Park, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden,Lan Su Chinese Garden and Terwilliger Parkway.
Placemaking projects in the Brentwood Darlington neighborhood.
Organizing work parties to maintain parks and public spaces in places like Green Thumb Community Orchard, Leach Botanical Garden, Concordia Neighborhood Parks, Marquam Nature Park, and Wilshire Park.
Maintaining garden plots, providing food to the community and building plots for people with mobility issues in gardens like Green Thumb Community Orchard, Johns Garden and Fulton Park CommunityGardens.
Advocating for recreation and programming and creating a sense of belonging through soccer and biking.
Providing safe and inclusive educational opportunities in nature forBIPOC community members.
Cleaning up trash and graffiti and increasing safety in Laurelhurst Park.
Managing countless volunteer groups and inspiring others to join new groups at places like Rose City Bluff and Elizabeth Caruthers Park.
Providing workshops and resources on bees and native plants.
Here are your 2022 U.S. Bank Parks Champions
Christie Quinn
Christie founded the Bookmobile Babe in 2018, a volunteer-run nonprofit that distributes free books and a free literacy camp for ten weeks in the summer at both Lents Park and Columbia Park. Christie got the idea of starting Bookmobile Babe after volunteering with the Multnomah County Libraries and realizing they didn’t have a mobile way to bring books to the community. Bookmobile Babe distributes free books and offers book exchanges to children ages 1-18 from historically excluded communities. Christie partners with Portland Parks & Recreation, Reading is Resistance, The Children’s Book Bank and local authors to provide diverse literature and reading guides for youth. The Bookmobile Babe also leads discussions about the books on themes such as BLM, indigenous history, environmentalism and offers art activities too.
Laura Campos
Laura has been volunteering and serving SW Portland for decades, bring-ing the view and voice of Native Americans to parks and park activities throughout her civic engagement. A recent example of her volunteer efforts include the Eena (Beaver) Festival held at Multnomah Arts Center in 2021. She brought together SW Neighborhoods Equity & Inclusion Committee, Grand Ronde Tribal members, Westside Watersheds, Neighborhood House, and Multnomah Arts Center to support the event. Through this event the community was introduced to the concept and substance of imparting traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to the humans occupying their territory. Over the decades she has continued to bring organizations together to better serve the community.
Read about each of the nominees and the amazing volunteer work they are doing in our city!
2022 U.S. Bank Parks Champion Nominees:
Alicia Craft, Green Thumb Community Orchard
Alison Hardinh, Lincoln Youth Soccer,
Anton Vetterlein, Historic Terwilliger Parkway
Bill Bannister, Forest Park Conservancy
Bob Dolphin, Whitaker Ponds
Christie Quinn, Bookmobile babe / Lents Park
Volunteer, Marx Pedestrian Pathway along SW Broadway Avenue
Dottie Alberg, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
Gloria & Tom Wiemann, Leach Botanical Garden
James Tunley, Laurelhurst Park and neighborhood
Janet Parenteau, Lan Su Chinese Garden
Javier Puga-Phillips, Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA)
Laura R. Campos, Multnomah Art Center and SW Portland
Leigh Nunez, Sellwood Community House
Leslie Smith, Johns Garden
Marianne Dickinson, Fulton Park community gardens
Mark Smallwood, Peninsula Park Rose Garden
Marti Yoder, Elizabeth Caruthers Park
Nancy and Peter Mogelnicki, Wilshire Park
Paddy Tillett, Portland Parks Board
Rachel Burdon, Columbia Park
Robin Jensen, Marquam Nature Park
Scott Goodman, Brentwood Darlington Neighborhood
Stephen Anderson, Colonel Summer Community Garden
Suzanne Briggs, Rose City Bluff north of the Rose City Golf Course
Tim Copeman, Gateway Green
Tom Hernandez, Hoyt Arboretum Friends