 Good afternoon. My name is Catherine Huckabee. I am the manager of the community engagement office And we just want to welcome you here today to the 17th annual Fort Worth neighborhood awards Okay, did everyone have a great time during their workshops today We want to say a huge thank you to the police and fire departments for hosting us today Please give them a hand. We'd like to ask Fort Worth police chief Ed Kraus to give our invocation Thank you. If you're comfortable, please bow your head with me Abba father we come here humbly before you today and we ask for your continued blessings on this gathering We're so thankful to live in this country flawed as it is flawed as everything made or created by human tend to be But we thank you for allowing us to live here in a country where we can worship as we see fit And we we thank you so much for allowing us to live in a great city like Fort Worth a city that values community and Strives to improve all communities across the city though. There's work to do I am so encouraged by the people I see here and the organizations they represent Please continue to bless them give them strength to sustain them emotionally Physically and spiritually to continue their work Finally God, thank you for the people who prepared the meal for us today And thank you for the food not only for the sustenance it provides but for the The meaning it has the act of the meal itself where we can sit down and break bread with other like-minded individuals Who believe that their service to others is the greatest form of worship to you? All who are in agreement bless your name by saying amen Today, we are also very honored to have the United Health Care who is our sponsor for providing our lunch here today This is their fourth year to be this sponsor for our event. Please give them a hand As you continue eating, please welcome United Health Care's North Texas and Oklahoma Health Plant CEO Scott Flannery Thank you all for having us today You know one of the things that we think about at United Health Care is around the communities that we serve and no place Do you see more vibrant communities than communities that have leaders? Innovative and thoughtful leaders not only elected officials which are sitting here today Which we thank but also those inside the communities that they serve in the neighborhoods that are being recognized today We're humbled to be partnered with the city of Fort Worth, and we thank you all for the opportunity to be here today I think I have the honor of the pleasure of introducing the keynote speaker for you all today And it's an individual that works with us her name Sarah and Schumann. She's the medical chief medical officer for United Health Care of North Texas in Oklahoma She graduated from Harvard and Harvard Medical School and completed her family medicine residency at Boston Medical Center She complete she completed her national health services core commitment at Chicago Family Health Center a federally qualified health center on Chicago's south side She then joined the faculty at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine where she was the director of community health and service learning in 2011 She and her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she served as the assistant dean for community medicine at the University of Oklahoma Tulsa Tulsa Medical School She completed her master's in public health with a focus on health care management and policy at Columbia's mailman school in 2015 she then became if she wasn't busy enough She then became the medical director of community health connections at the federally qualified health care in Tulsa Where she continues to be to where she continues to see patients. She joined our organization in 2017 she serves on the board and she serves on the board for the Tulsa County Board of Health the Morning Crest Healthcare Foundation and the Tulsa chapter of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship she recently completed her plant-based nutrition certificate for the T. Collin Campbell Center for nutrition studies and Will earn her board certification in lifestyle medicine in 2020 please join me in welcoming Dr. Saran Schumann. I want to thank Scott for the introduction and Mayor price for everything you do to make Fort Worth a healthier city and chef ebony who I Found by just googling a healthy cater for it worth and I think I've heard the food is delicious and Thank you for the delicious meal. I Like to start every day with gratitude So this morning before I got out of bed I was really really grateful for having the opportunity to talk to all of you today about this topic Which is which I'm so passionate about I'm also grateful for all the work that you guys are doing in the community to make this a better city Next slide So I'm just gonna start with with sort of the bad news one of the things I've learned As I've learned more about plant-based eating is there's an acronym sad Which is stands for the standard American diet, and I think we know that in general We're not doing so well in terms of what we're putting in our bodies Lots and lots of processed food too much Animal food and then if you see that little dark green one It's the whole food the whole plant foods is only 6% of what we eat and when we eat lots of you know saturated fat and Salt and sugar and you guys all know this but that can actually lead to diseases like diabetes and heart disease And we're eating more whole plant-based foods can help cure those diseases So either prevent them or even reverse disease in some cases So I did search for some data specific to Fort Worth So this this slide shows that in Tarrant County and in 2015 and hopefully it's better About one in four people didn't even eat one vegetable a day So for those of you who had your vegetables today, you've already done that and about half didn't even eat one piece of fruit A day so for those of you had fruit with you know with your breakfast. You've already you've already done that and People on average had fast food for women more than once a week and for men more than twice a week So clearly there's room for progress and I would assume since 2015. There's already been some progress next slide So the United Health Foundation puts out something called America's health rankings every year that compares all the different states in terms of Their health so here's Texas and you know, I'm hoping you're better here in Fort Worth But Texas moved in the wrong direction for both obesity and diabetes You can see that for obesity 34.8 percent of Texans Texans who are adults are obese So that's about one in three and about one in eight have diabetes and again, this is a problem that's getting worse not better This this next slide just shows that in Tarrant County in 2017 one in three adults had high blood pressure and heart disease was the leading cause of death Next slide so this one you can't can't really see but just look at these colors This slide shows the leading causes of death here in Tarrant County by race and ethnicity So if you look at the these leading causes of death The majority of them are caused by in part by what we're eating and actually can also be reversed if we change If we make some changes to what we're putting in our bodies So some of the ones on here the red is heart disease Or sorry, the red is cancer blue is heart disease all timers disease and diabetes are also in these top causes of death here and next slide So I While preparing this talk I went to the websites, you know for the the big national organizations that address some of our most common diseases and causes of death so one of them of course is diabetes and You'll see there's a theme for each of these that if we eat more of certain things and less of others that we can make a big difference So, you know for diabetes eating more vegetables fruit sometimes people think of you have diabetes you can't eat fruit. That's not true whole grains healthy fats and Omega-3 fatty acids so that's you know can flax seeds and walnuts and fatty fish and then of course eating less processed foods sweets fried foods and red and processed meats and saturated fat and One of the really exciting things that I have learned as I've been Studying this even more is that some people can actually reverse their diabetes by going to eating more of a whole food plant-based diet And so I just want to say with all of these if you're going to do this Which I highly recommend you obviously want to be working with your doctor because there's actually a risk of your blood sugar going too Low if you start to make these changes, so make sure you're getting the health care that you need So for heart disease These are the recommendations from the American Heart Association But one of the things that's also really exciting and I think is getting more attention is there are these doctors like you know Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn who've done studies where they take people with really bad heart disease You know have had heart attacks. Maybe they've had bypass surgery and if and this this is extreme cases I'm not saying everyone needs to eat this way But for people who are really motivated with heart disease Many of them by going to a low-fat whole food plant-based diet can actually reverse their heart disease and prevent need for further surgery And there are these incredible stories to hear of the recoveries that they can make So just know that that is something that for the most motivated people that can help and even just making some small changes can Lead to lower blood pressure I know when I switched to this way of eating and I don't I'm not doing the low fat one I still eat oils and nuts and things like that But I switched to a whole food plant based in October and my cholesterol went from 240 to 180 in like two months with you know No medicine just from eating this way So I mean it actually the numbers change really really quickly which is which is wonderful In terms of cancer again American Cancer Society you can go to their their website and you know They're recommending the exact same changes and actually the World Health Organization Has classified processed meats. So that's things like hot dogs and bacon And some smoked meats as a carcinogen meaning that they contribute to causing cancer You know, it's not as bad as smoking. So clearly if anyone smokes Obviously that would be the number one thing to help prevent cancer But also interestingly the protein in dairy products also contributes to the development of cancer So, you know, I'm not saying give everything up, but I'm just saying for people who are You know trying to optimize their diet You want to eat more of the things on the left and fewer of the things on the right and actually there are When you look at populations like in Kenya or in certain parts of Japan where they eat mostly plants Their rates of things like breast cancer are so low I mean many many times lower than what we have here. So it really it really does contribute And there are studies showing reversal of prostate cancer with this way of eating as well Interestingly for those of you who are worried about breast cancer Eating soy sometimes people think soy might because it has these phytoestrogens, which are natural estrogens from plants Some people used to think that that cause that could contribute to cancer It actually helps prevent cancer. So for you know, all the women here I highly recommend eating more soy products. So like You know things like edamame and which are nice a really good snack and tofu and things like that Next so Alzheimer's We as a medical profession have not got done a good job at figuring out how to prevent or treat Alzheimer's And I think probably everyone in this room knows somebody with Alzheimer's So there's no one thing that anybody can do to fully prevent it, but there's this wonderful Dr. Couple at Loma Linda University in California and they study this and they've come up with this wonderful acronym to prevent Alzheimer's disease And it actually can decrease your risk by about a third if you do these things So it the acronym is neuro because it's a neurologic disease and so any you are oh and Surprise surprise stands for nutrition So they recommend eating mostly a whole food plant-based diet low in sugar salt and processed food And they recommend I recommend eating a lot of vegetables beans nuts seeds fruits and spices So actually one of the things that makes this kind of way of eating tastes good is by adding a lot of spices and spices like turmeric and Cinnamon those are ones that actually help bring your blood pressure down and reduce your risk for all kinds of diseases The E in neuro stands for exercise. We all know this But you know not just going to the gym or taking a walk But making sure that you don't sit if your job is a sitting job for eight hours a day Make sure you're getting up and standing and moving around You stands for unwind so that could be meditation or breathing exercises Or the stress balls we were handing out that helped help me unwind before the talk or just time in nature Our stands for restore which is just a reminder that we need to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep every night Easier said than done, but that should be a priority and oh just stands for optimize which is optimize the use of your brain So, you know, you could see I like going back to school and doing lots of additional learning But you know, maybe that's taking up a musical instrument. It's it's spending time socializing with friends and family But and so all that comes together for neuro and that can help prevent your risk of Alzheimer's by one third So Thinking about next steps You know, I have a short time with you today. You can tell I can go on about this for days on end but what I you know, everyone's in a different place on their journey and You know my journey changes all the time The reason after I went to this plant-based nutrition conference in the fall that I decided to just go all out and really Switch over to this way of eating is that in my family both of my grandmothers my mother and my sister have all had breast cancer And I also have a high risk for colon cancer and I realized that I can't do there's nothing I can do to a hundred percent prevent myself from getting breast cancer But if I if there was a change that I could make that I would also enjoy making by you know, trying all these new foods And and reduce my risk that I really wanted to do that So I so I made that change four months ago for that reason But I want each of you right now think about your why, you know Why would why would it how would your life be better if you made even one healthy change? And I usually like to think about adding things rather than taking things away because obviously that's easier And as you start to do this and you start to feel better, you may want to go further with this But think about why would you want to make these these changes? And then I also challenge each of you to commit to one change today like everyone in your head It's gonna be really different I mean I had my clinic last week and I did this with each of my patients and for some it was switching their eggs and bacon in The morning to eating oatmeal with flax seeds and berries and walnuts You know and for other people it was just eating an apple as a snack every day Other people switching their sugary drinks for green tea. So there, you know, you should think about what's one thing that you could do I have a bunch of resources on these next couple slides, but there are a lot of different documentaries But the one how many of you have seen game changers? Not that many a couple have because I talked earlier So if I could recommend one documentary for you to watch I highly recommend seeing game changers Which is on Netflix that came out last year and it talks about elite athletes and how switching to whole food plant-based eating Has made them, you know increase their endurance and their strength includes, you know, body builders and ultra marathoners I know I have been running significantly faster at age 50 Than I did at age 49 just by switching over I recover faster. So game changers is a wonderful movie to help motivate you and for You know, this is one other thing interesting in that movie is that if you start to eat this way It actually improves your blood flow in all of your blood vessels. So there's a very interesting little chapter on erectile dysfunction in it So I highly recommend watching that because that's actually and you know One of the positive side effects of moving to this kind of diet But I really everyone should watch game changers because it is it is a game changer Had I had to throw that out there So There are just endless books and websites and so many resources But the one I want to highlight actually if you go back a slide is those two on the bottom How not to die and how not to diet which is the latest book? But there is a doctor named Dr. Michael Greger and what I love about him is that he has devoted his entire life to spreading this You know the gospel of healthy eating and and it's not just his opinion He he and his team read through thousands of research articles So the rest of us don't have to have to read them and he has in addition to these books Which are pretty large intimidating books. He has you can go to the next slide there He has a website called nutrition facts org and this is where if you have if you're worried about any kind of disease Or you're curious about any kind of food and you know what makes it good and what makes it bad It's all on his website and he does videos and he has blog posts But he really like I trust everything that he says and he has an app So for those of you maybe this could be your step for today His app is called the Daily Dozen and he recommends Trying to fit these 12 things into what you eat every day again. He's not saying I mean He would say it if you asked him probably to give up some of the things you might not want to give up But this is all about adding things So this is you know eat berries every day a certain number of servings of fruit green leafy vegetables Vegetables like you know cabbage cauliflower broccoli flax seeds he has spices on there and nuts and He includes exercise and just making sure you're staying hydrated with of course, you know non-sugary beverages like water coffee and tea So I that's really helpful and there's like little checkboxes on the app if you want to try it I can tell you I do not and I think there's beans on there as well I don't get through all of them every day, but I think it's a great thing to you know to strive for So before I end Again, I want each of you to come up with a personal goal But I also because your community leaders I want you to also think about a goal for your community Organization or your neighborhood like what could you do to help them be a little bit healthier? And so I'll tell you my own personal goals My personal goal is to do better at meal planning at something I work on all the time But I try on Sunday to plan out the meals for the week So we can get the shopping done and be efficient with our time because it takes time to prepare healthy foods And make sure you have healthy snacks around and then my Community goal is I am I want to create a healthy food pharmacy in my clinic So that for my patients who have trouble finding or paying for the healthy foods that I'm recommending I could write a prescription They can go to our pharmacy and they could pick up like a starter pack of those of those foods that will make them healthier So I want you guys each to think about your personal and your neighborhood goal And again, I just want to thank you so much for having me today, and I wish you the best of luck in your journey Thank you, Dr. Schuman First of all, we'd just like to recognize all of our elected officials who are here with us today So we have Mayor Bessie Price if we could have you all stand Councilmember Flores Councilmember Bird Councilmember Bivens Councilmember Jordan Councilmember Singleton. Oh my and our city managers also joined us this evening Assistant city managers here with us today as well as other city staff So if you could all please give them a round of applause for being here I would like to just take a moment if the community engagement team could please move forward I would just want to thank them if y'all could run up here Run Maddie. It's okay this event in June To have it in February and we eat sleep and breathe this and we are just honored for the opportunity to be able to Encourage you guys and recognize you for everything that you do throughout the year and we're missing obviously some of the men have hidden out so But and as always for those of you who are in my workshop I just encourage you to make sure that you're reaching out to your community engagement liaison We want to help you connect with as many city services. We possibly can So as most of you know the city of Fort Worth created the neighborhood awards to recognize the projects and Activities that make Fort Worth a great place to live work and play Today, we recognize the outstanding work in each of these categories We're also going to be giving out individual awards today and name Fort Worth's neighborhood of the year a Panel of judges from other area cities reviewed all the nominations and chose today's winners because our office cannot do that We thank them all for their time Our first awards recognizes excellence in communication, which is critical in bringing our neighbors together Newsletters are judged on content and appearance as well as how well they reach their intended audience as I announced your names Please Please the editor or the officer, please come to the stage to receive your award and remain for a group photo with mayor Price we're going to enter this way and then go out that way in The HOA category Crawford Farms Marine Creek Estates Park Glen and villages of Woodland Springs These HOA's produce two to twelve newsletters a year many also send weekly email updates Cost are covered by HOA dues and often supplemented by the sale of ads Highlights will include info about city trash pickup How HOA dues are spent and photos of community events? If y'all will just go right over here on the green tape, we'll get a group photo with the mayor Please give all of our HOA newsletter winners a hand and now the voluntary Association newsletter winners Berkeley Place Carter Riverside Eastern Hills and Ridgley North Most of these neighborhoods email their electronic newsletters directly to their members some still deliver printed coffees by mail or block captains Remember if you need information for your newsletter, please call the community engagement office, and we'll be happy to help you with some information They put together the free community engagement weekly bulletin full of articles and information that you can share with your neighbors Please give our voluntary winners congratulations Our next award the Fort Worth pride award is given to an organization that improves physical aspects of the neighborhood Neighborhoods in this category may have completed beautification cleanup park or garden projects or Worked with the city's code compliance or other departments to make the neighborhood cleaner and more attractive in the HOA Category judges chose just one finalist, so they are also our winner in The far northwest Fort Worth on the edge of Eagle Mountain Lake Eagle Ranch property owners association Council member shingleton is obviously going to join you. Please join us Eagle Ranch members And I'm just going to tell a little bit more about your project These residents tackled revitalization of the neighborhood Disc golf course multi-purpose field and walking trail Volunteers cleared litter brush and weeds from a creek bed The HOA hired a certified arborist to trim overgreen grown trees They negotiated a price break by allowing the company to work at their own pace between the bigger jobs Upgrading the disc golf course involved planting trees to protect walkers from wayward flying frisbees Eagle Ranch worked with the city forester and a local tree farm to add 65 new trees Neighborhood volunteers agreed to water those trees for two years They also repaired soccer goals, which brought lots of practices last fall Sometimes as many as four teams a night more volunteers planted blue bonnet seeds to create a backdrop for spring wildfire photos Congratulations to Eagle Ranch. They are not happy about this award In the voluntary association category. There are two finalists Please stand at your tables as I announce your names in East Fort Worth just south of highway 121 Garden of Eden neighborhood Association they They organized not one but two teams for the Cowtown great American cleanup One team focused on cleaning up in neighborhood church both inside and out The other team worked at the home of the neighborhood's oldest member an 88 year old woman Who could no longer do the work herself? Also in East Fort Worth just south of Rose dell Historic Rose dell Park undertook a neighborhood branding project The goal was to beautify the area but also define the neighborhood visually They planted dark pink crepe myrtles and shade trees on the Martin Luther King Community Center campus Then more crepe myrtles and knockout roses throughout the neighborhood and the winner is historic Rose dell Park The original goal was 12 trees but working with the park department local businesses a community foundation and garden center discounts Neighbors managed to purchase and plant 38 trees and many more rose bushes They hope to encourage neighborhood churches to plant their property too Now when you see dark pink crepe myrtles trees and red knockout rose bushes, you know, you're in historic Rose dell Park Congratulations. I want to say that Frank Moss told me last year at this exact same time that they would be winning an award this year, so He was right The spirit of Fort Worth award is given to associations that foster social revitalization Enhanced cultural aspects of the neighborhood or just simply make residents feel welcome and connected while working playing or celebrating together Will the HOA finalists please stand? In the far northwest Fort Worth Eagle Ranch took a social media chat about gardening and turned it into a neighborhood neighborhood wide plant slot swap Activity committee volunteers convinced a couple of avid gardeners to turn their passion into an event that benefited the entire neighborhood Residents swapped perennials and seeds and learned how to care for them. It was so successful. They did it again in the fall in The far north Fort Worth just east of I-35 West the villages of woodland Springs Added an event for special needs children to its annual bunny hop The new event was slower paced and more suitable for children with physical mental or social challenges And the winter is villages of woodland Springs Councilmember shingleton It's not unusual for more than 1,000 residents to attend the annual bunny hop It features a ready-set-go style egg hunt. That's a mad scramble for thousands of filled eggs Last year the event planning committee recognized the need to include non-competitive and special needs children in a fun activity They called it the silent egg hunt taking care not to label the event or the children as disabled Congratulations villages of woodland Springs There are five finalists in the voluntary association category. Please stand as I read your name Located in East Fort Worth just north of 121 Carter Riverside Neighbors wanted to build Community by reviving a 4th of July celebration that had languished over the years and it worked by including scouts group school groups Churches and businesses the event brought together a diverse group of neighbors and volunteers in Northwest Northwest Fort Worth just east of the Naval Air Station joint reserve base Eastgate neighbors Eastgate partner partnered with nearby Camp Carter's to support military families in need of assistance Their project provided backpacks and handmade quilts to children of military families who attended Camp Carter last summer in Northeast Fort Worth just south of highway 121 Garden of Eden neighborhood association Members collected clothing school supplies household items and eyewear for our neighbors across the borders project Residents felt a personal connection as they packed items for delivery for children in Honduras and love smiles in the Facebook post thanking them for their efforts on the south side just east of TCU and Granbury Road Las Familias de Rosemont This brand-new neighborhood association needed to find a way for neighbors to get to know each other Especially Hispanic families who were not as connected in the community The answer was a Cinco de Mayo celebration that offered family-friendly activities and helpful helpful information in both English and Spanish In Southwest Fort Worth just south of I-20 Wedgewood Square After expanding their neighborhood boundaries Wedgewood Square hosted a picnic to welcome residents who had not been a part of a neighborhood Association in a long time the picnic honored first responders and succeeded in attracting several new neighborhood volunteers and the winner is Las Familias de Rosemont and Councilmember Zeta was unable to be here today, but she's so proud of you guys More than 90% of Rosemont residents are Hispanic and most have never belonged to a neighborhood association Planning the Cinco de Mayo celebration established strong partnerships with schools churches and businesses in the area and door-to-door flyers and social media posts in English and Spanish ensured Hispanic families felt welcome Congratulations, I'd like to ask Mayor Price to present the next awards How's everybody? Sassy after a great lunch of healthy food, right? Dr. Schuman you're preaching exactly our blue zones and this crew of neighborhood leaders knows all about blue zones So it's my pleasure today to present one that's near and dear to me and that's the health and wellness award You know Fort Worth has 89 miles of paved trails and another 30 miles of natural trails So if you can't find a place to be outside in Fort Worth, you're not looking More than 200 parks and 20 community centers all that play an important role in keeping our community healthy Engaged and strong But your neighborhood activities also contribute to the health and wellness and the vibrancy of the city This honor goes is a significant local effort that promotes exercise Better health safety and recreation that leads to a better quality of life in your neighborhood We had two finalists in the HOA category if you'd stand One was the Park Glen neighborhood association the park park Glen bike gang known as the beat beat PG bg's are Family-friendly bike ride that rides a couple of times a month I've actually had the pleasure of riding with them and they also give all the riders a safety briefing and have helmets available Then they take off after their briefing and talk about it and ride the Acadia trails. Thank you a Little further north just east of I-35 the villages of Woodland Springs. Would you all stand? They put a lot of fun events throughout the year and all of them have a little bit about food Last year they took the Blue Zones pledge and made a point to offer more fruits vegetables and healthy eating And the winner of the health and wellness award goes to the Park Glen bike association The PG bg's Glint bike gang better known as the PG bg's Foster exercise and neighborhood friendships as the idea caught on neighbors added a new division the PG bg Men mean is say that PG minis minis that is too much with shorter rides for younger children One important feature of the program making sure that everyone who wants to ride has a bike a team of volunteers Collects donations makes repairs and swaps outgrown bikes to keep everyone rolling Congratulations in the voluntary Military association category for this award the judges named only one finalist. They were so impressed and the winner is the Garden of Eden If you've never had the chance to do this, this was their 15th annual 5k run and one mile walk It's a very tight neighborhood Well, they know each other. They know everybody there and I've run with them three or four times It's a really fun thing to do to see a neighborhood that you normally wouldn't see so Y'all come forward Team of this year's event was called push through Garden of Eden encouraged their own members to push through personal issues such as grief Diabetes or stroke and to maintain a healthy lifestyle The race itself encourages participants to push through and do their best whether they entered the 5k or the walk This year there were more runners than walkers and plenty of neighborhood volunteers to register Participants hand out water and award prizes in several categories Congratulations Garden of Eden and if you're interested this year's run will be June 6th at 8 a.m The next award Recognizes the neighborhoods for doing getting something done the civic engagement and community Collaboration honor significant creative contributions that define and address a challenge Association that works with the city state elected officials schools businesses other neighborhoods The judges chose one finalist in the HOA category and that's Eagle Ranch Would y'all join us on stage councilmember shingleson to stay here Eagle Ranch collaborated with the city park department on a state-of-the-art playground in Eagle Mountain Ranch Park Neighbors gave input on the type of inclusive play equipment They wanted as well as the color and the theme When the project was finished last year Eagle Ranch put on a grand reopening celebration with many community partners They had a high school jazz band who played Holly holiday music a church loan chairs Businesses provided food supplies a DJ and crafts for the kids and dozens of neighborhood volunteers help publicize set up and clean it up More than 800 people attended the park ribbon cutting and holiday event Congratulations Eagle Ranch I lost my place Okay, the finalists for the voluntary in the voluntary neighborhood Neighborhood category for this is also garden of Eden who partnered with the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition to help families in Transition they provide soap dishes kitchen towels and many household goods during their national night out They helped put together laundry baskets to help deliver for our homeless coalition You forget oftentimes that when people are homeless and they get in housing they have so very little to take with them Just outside the loop one of the other finalists was Wedgewood Square They organized there they are After organizing in early 19 in Red String with the city they went to work on a community-wide event They partnered with their citizens on patrol a neighborhood church and two other Associations Wedgewood East and South Hills and their national night out. They attract it their first national night out They attract it more than 200 people for the three neighborhoods congratulations and The winner is Garden of Eden Members started brainstorming at a neighborhood meeting They came up with a list of items someone coming off the streets with absolutely nothing would need for their new home Members set a budget and volunteers shop for the items during their national night out observance Members helped fill each basket with household items and cleaning supplies as well as handwritten notes that said welcome home By keeping the project focused and manageable all members could participate in some way Congratulations Garden of Eden and now mayor price will put will present our individual awards. Thank you If you get a chance to go to Garden of Eden's national night out, they have a great chilly contest Not real blue zones, but really good chilly So today's award is named in honor of our former council member Danny Scarth who's usually here But he couldn't be with us today, but I'm gonna invite Christina Brooks to come to the stage Here's Christina our new diversity and inclusion director if you haven't had a chance to meet Christina You should she joined us about five weeks ago from South Bend and do is doing a wonderful job She handles human relations commissions and the mayor's committee on people with disability the group of volunteers Who sponsored this award in Danny's name? This award recognizes someone who in their everyday life Raises awareness and makes real changes to support opportunities for persons with disability and the finalists are Elaine close a local Elaine is a local advocate for mental health intellectual and developmental differences a longtime volunteer member of MHM R She currently volunteers at the Center for Transforming Lives Hidden homeless project and focuses on the youngest among us and their percentage of mental health Our second finalist is husband and wife team of Anderson and Dorothy Lampkins They serve with the deaf community as interpreters and translators every week They use sign language to share worship and if needed funeral services for other churches The cost of interpretation Prevents many people from seeking help, but the Lampkins volunteer their services and their time in Transportation so that individuals with challenges can join the other services and celebrations of someone's life Our third finalist is David Lunt the advocate for advancement in employment of North Texans who are blind or low vision? David volunteers with disability IN and he shares best practices with employers to be more inclusive and more accessible Other nonprofits David works with he gets to help people Experience what it's like to have lost your vision and how you can work together to do that Our fourth finalist is Teresa Shea. Hey a volunteer puppy raiser with guide dogs for the blind She works more than a year training and socializing each dog so that they can provide safety and independence For someone who's blind or low side Teresa has been turned away from Public restaurants and places by people who didn't realize that the dogs. She were training or the help dogs She uses her opportunities to educate the entire community. Thank you. I couldn't give those puppies up And our fifth finalist is Jim Teague an Abbott supporter for people with all the disabilities volunteering at MHM are Jim is advocated for fair wages Housing transportation and health care for the disabled He and his wife Linda have been instrumental in local campaigns to support permanent housing a barrier-free camp for children and adults and Establishing the Liberty House for homeless veterans. I'd like to thank all five of you for the work You're doing in our community. You really change for work and the winner is Jim Teague Jim is Linda with you Linda you come to because Jim and Linda are really a dynamic duo So the person that nominated Jim wanted you to know that most board members just read the background materials show up for meetings and vote Others like Jim are very hands-on Attending the annual holiday party for early childhood programs and making sure that plenty of folks show up for a fundraiser Jim has served on the MHM our board of trustees since 2004 Thanks in part to the Teague's Camp Summit provides first-place recreation Recreation facilities for children and adults and Liberty House provides a home for veterans with mental illness Neither would be possible without the Teague's fundraising leadership Okay, the next one is for some officers that you all know and love and that's your NPO's They do so much in our communities. They step out give of their own time and many of them Give out of their own pocket to help neighborhoods and neighbors with things they need NPO's or neighborhood patrol officers do all of these plus whatever a regular officer's does They can identify crime trends in a neighborhood and they often are assigned to help with specific patrols You know them. I'm not going to give you more of their details, but you as neighbor leaders know these officers So when I call your name with the finalists, please stand for NPO of the year first one is Allen Pennington nominated by the Ridgely Hills Association Officer Pennington meets with his neighbors and any officials at three different schools to make drop-off and pick up run safely for our children he plans traffic control for the neighborhood's annual walk-a-thon their 4th of July National Night Out Halloween and even Sees that Santa makes an appearance and he brings his family along Alan. Thank you Our second nominee is Jennifer Russell nominated by Garden of Eden Garden of Eden neighbors say Jennifer answers their questions about crime is there when they need them is always at National Night Out provides crime reports and Continues to know each neighbor by name. She has a great sense of humor a caring dependable and concern for all Thank You officer Russell for coordinating the transition with a new Pia NPO, but Garden of Eden said we will always love Jennifer Our next one is nominated by Eagle Ranch Raphael Salazar It's back in the back corner Neighbors had the opportunity to get to know Raphael at their holiday extravaganza when he let the kids climb in Out and all over his squad car After a string of vehicle break-ins he brought crime prevention specialist Dorothy Tyler out and they started the Eagle Ranch crime watch Officer Salazar is always involved in National Night Out and regularly attends the neighborhood meetings Giving them his cell phone so they can find him whenever needed. Thank you and Nominated by Ryan Wood is NPO James Salinas Neighbors say he works not just with them But all the businesses to see that their storefronts are clean safe and well lit meets monthly with apartment managers in the areas and They take his advice and apartment life becomes safer Officer Salinas has helped neighborhoods with their code blue National Night Out and regularly works with the children in our summer slide reading program. Thank you We appreciate all of our NPO's for what they do to keep our neighborhood safe It's that extra set of eyes and ears that you provide and you coordinate with them to keep us safe Our winner today is officer Alan Pennington Officer Pennington's nomination was accompanied by letters from school and PTA leaders praising his school traffic improvements And the way he brought everyone together for the safest solution After a resident posted a photo of Officer Pennington taking time to check on a man in a wheelchair on Camp Bowie The neighborhood Facebook page received more than a hundred positive comments a Fellow officer recounts how Officer Pennington helped a woman who was in medical distress By carrying her to shelter from the Sun while waiting for an ambulance to arrive There were so many examples of Officer Pennington going above and beyond that. We're really not able to share them all Congratulations to Officer Alan Pennington Now the big one our neighbor of the year award This award recognizes an individual whose outstanding service Has made a tremendous positive impact on their neighborhood, but also on the city as a whole The best candidate for this award is not necessarily an Association or just an association leader But often the best candidate is an unsung hero who's working hard in their community If the nominees would please stand the first one is from Eagle Ranch Dylan Costanaza To begin with Dylan is 15 years old and an active scout He volunteers in the holiday extravaganza the disc golf course National night out and a neighborhood flag display. He makes crime watch patrols on his bicycles a man after my heart His Eagle Scout project is pranning trees that will benefit the entire neighborhood Neighbors say that while other teams are playing video games Dylan and his father are working with a backhoe to plant trees. Thank you Dylan Our next nominee is Daniel Guido of Park Glen better known as Guido Daniel created the Park Glen bike gang and takes kids out riding regularly and Families to you heard a little bit about him earlier Participation is free to anyone and if you can't afford a bike Daniel keeps a garage full of donated bikes that he takes pieces and puts back together and his children in the neighborhood Outgrow their bikes. He swaps them up for a bigger bike He hosts fix-a-thons so that neighbors and parents will know how to fix kids bikes and share them with other neighbors Thank you. We don't Our next nominee is Erica Jones from the villages of Woodland Springs Erica founded a charity called Sunshine Spaces which provide room makeovers for children who are terminally ill or children in foster care She is the go-to person when her community needs help if a disaster strikes Erica is the first one to organize The involvement of the neighborhoods to help families for donations in need Neighbors say she is infectious and starts a chain reaction of kindness. Thank you, Erica And our next nominee is Karen Sloan from Crawford Farms Karen took the neighborhood face. There she is Facebook page and Ask for donations for school supplies for the Boys and Girls Club of Tarrant County a Modest goal of filling only 24 backpacks Crawford Farms neighborhoods under her leadership Filled a hundred and three backpacks or children in need. Thank you Leslie Stroud from Tehama Ridge Leslie Leslie is the volunteer that keeps their neighborhood traditions going Including an annual barbecue and chili cookoff. I need to come try your chili, too Whether the social committee has 15 members or only one person to help Leslie make sure that every event goes off without a hitch When Tehama Ridge saw an uptick in uptick in crime She organized their first national night out and neighbors got to know each other better. Thank you, Leslie Russell Zerwig of Park Glen There's Russell Neighbors said Russell brings them together keeps them all informed Updating residents on board decisions and responding quickly to their concerns He promotes their social events in a way that makes the volunteers want to raise their hands to get involved You better pick his brain y'all Movie night Easter egg hunt turkey trot holiday decorating Russell is the one making it happen in their neighborhood Thank You Russell All of these nominees are tremendous of examples of why Fort Worth is the best city Particularly the best big city with a small town feel to live in so thank you all and The winner is Daniel Guido of Park Glen As the instigator of the Park Glen bike gang Daniel's passion and creativity make each ride special There's often a theme such as a silly hat ride and Participants get homemade badges for the longest ride or brought a friend Daniel comes up with ways to incorporate the bike gang into all Park Glen events for example fixing and giving away bikes at the spring extravaganza and awarding prizes for decorated bikes in the 4th of July parade Daniel has helped two other Fort Worth neighborhoods start their own bike gang chapters He also serves the neighborhood in other ways trimming trees hauling away junk and coordinating donations for neighbors in need and Daniel has said he will help any of you start a bike gang in your neighborhood Right Daniel There's five he's expanded into five neighborhoods so far and trust me we can find bikes for your kids our next award is Neighborhood of the year and it recognizes excellence in all these categories The judges have made their selection from among all the finalists that have been recognized today Community engagement office will send a representative with the winning neighborhoods representatives to the USA national competition in Little Rock in May in 2019 our neighborhood of the year is a group that didn't officially exist until last year Many of you can appreciate the challenges of starting and revitalizing a neighborhood Organizing recruiting introducing neighbors to each other Going through setbacks when people say I don't want to do that and explaining to them why they do want to do it and Making a success of it. Our neighborhood of the year this year is La Familia's de Rosemont Okay, this is why we do this. I'm just telling you Many Rosemont residents had never been a part of a neighborhood association and the community leaders wanted to change that Reaching out to 92% of the Hispanic population became a priority So choosing the right name was crucial Las Familia's de Rosemont proved to be the welcoming words that Hispanic families needed to hear The next step getting families together to educate them about the importance of sticking together as neighbors It needed to be a fun event that celebrated Rosemont's culture With just one month of planning the association pulled off a Cinco de Mayo event with music food Information tables offering health and education resources that the neighbors wanted and needed it also included the Mounted Police and first Responders and fun in an engaging way and created partnerships with the local high school nearby businesses churches and city departments. We are so proud congratulations Congratulations again to all of our winners and yes, they will be joining us for the neighborhood USA conference in Little Rock in May of 2020 and who knows When Nusa is coming to Fort Worth 2021 and who's volunteering Again, a huge thank you to our sponsor as United Health Care's Aaron Graves comes forward for our drawings Please help me thank him for providing today's lunch We also want to let you know that we have certificates for all the finalists in every award category So please come up on the stage before you leave today to get those and if you have a limited mobility And need assistance getting out to your vehicle Please meet us over on this side of the stage and we'll help you at the end of this of the presentation Good afternoon This was truly awesome It's great to hear about all the wonderful things that you're doing for one another in the community And it's just an honor to be here as a sponsor of this event every time Catherine calls We're come running right she she she starts on this early We talk in the summer times that hey Aaron. It's that time again And I'll tell her yes, we'll do it hands down. We'll be here in force So again, thank you for allowing us to be a part of this event And let's thank Catherine as well. She is that and her and the and the staff and the staff She is the truest Professional all right If anything goes right anything trade changes She is the calmest person in the room at all times and she's excellent to work with so thank you again All right, so hopefully everyone has their Ticket out. Okay, and let's see who gets lucky. We have four items today. All right The first giveaway is a Amazon fire tablet ten inch tablet. All right, and let's see if we can get a lucky person in here Ticket number seven nine six two zero five Two zero five get winner awesome Great Thank you, Laura The next thing we have is a wellness bag It comes complete with a cookbook an apron a cutting board and some other little good goodies Okay Lucky number here is seven nine six Two one seven All right. Yeah Yeah, all right Our next item is healthy hound and I can tell you what this has been a popular item I think the chief tried to steal it earlier, so we had to Way to catch him and make sure we had it so great Seven nine six 171 Right here. Oh I've got to thank Laura Belcher She is here helping me out and holding everything for me All right, okay We have a healthy basket next okay complete with Apron cooking utensils olive oil a cookbook this rags a cup or two All right Lucky number is seven nine six two two eight That's you All right Hey, we're done guys. Thank you so much for coming. Have a good afternoon