Here are the 8 recipients of the 2023 Judy Beck Grants
The Beck Family Foundation awarded nearly $13,000 to eight recipients of its annual Judy Beck Grants.
The Beck Family Foundation and the Hurvis family of Glenview started the grants in 2020 to support new conservation and beautification efforts by nonprofit groups and individuals.
The grants are in memory of Judy Beck, an environmentalist who was a Glenview natural resources commissioner, a longtime Glenview Park District board commissioner, and an Environmental Protection Agency employee for 30 years, in addition to other efforts toward parks and conservation and the Glenview/Glencoe League of Women Voters.
Beck was the Illinois Association of Park Districts board president in 1994 and was named its commissioner of the year in 1996.
This year, the Beck Family Foundation awarded $12,890 in grants. Since the grants debuted, the foundation has provided $34,712 in grants.
Two efforts started within the Greener Glenview group earned grants. They are the launch of Natural Habitat Glenview, which seeks to support properties in becoming certified wildlife habitats by the National Wildlife Federation, and a series of one-hour seminars by Greener Glenview called "Hidden in Plain Sight" that show people how artificial light, noise, and traffic impact the environment and their lives.
The Grove, the Glenview Park District facility at 1421 Milwaukee Ave., also received Beck Grant funding for several groups under its umbrella.
Birding with Friends seeks to increase accessibility for the activity at The Grove. The Grove Green Girls is a volunteer group that offers young women professional development through environmental activities.
The Enclave at The Grove is another volunteer group that replaces invasive species with native plants to provide habitat for native wildlife and food and shelter for migratory birds.
Also receiving a grant was the Glenview Community Church Nursery School for its Rainbow Garden Project, which involves children ages 2 to 6 with gardening - learning about gardening and vegetables, being outdoors, even donating the garden's yield to a food pantry.
The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston earned a grant for a project - an Indigenous Medicine and Pollinator Garden - that will grow native plants that are part of regional Indigenous tribes' medicinal practices.
The "Be@the Farm" program of the TrueNorth Educational Cooperative and the Glenview Park District seeks to expand the beekeeping operation at the park district's Historic Wagner Farm, 1510 Wagner Road. A Beck Grant will allow the park district to purchase a honey extractor to help student farmers and increase efficiency in the process.
Finally, the park district's Park Center Preschool earned a Beck Grant for its Discovery and Learning through Multicultural Play project.