Groundswell NW recognizes three local heroes

Groundswell NW, an organization focused on parks and habitat, relies heavily on volunteers. At last night’s annual meeting, three individuals were recognized as local heroes. “We recognize two volunteers for their hands-on efforts, one through Groundswell work parties and one on her own initiative, and another for his leadership on a number of fronts in the community,” the press release states.

The three local heroes are:

Carol Duescher lives in Magnolia and on her own initiative does a daily sweep of parks and public access sites, typically starting in the wee hours at Discovery Park and working her way along Commodore Way, over the Ballard Bridge and around to Salmon Bay Natural Area, picking up trash and sorting out recyclables. Thank you, Carol, for your remarkable efforts to help keep the shores of Salmon Bay clean!

Mark Blitzer has been a steady volunteer at the Salmon Bay Natural Area, where he came to one of our early work parties and just kept coming back. Organizing volunteer work parties can be a lonely task, so it is very heartening to find a volunteer who can nearly always be counted on to show up and do whatever is needed. Mark is that kind of volunteer, and he also pitches in at other work parties, whether for other Groundswell projects or other environmental organizations.

Robert Drucker has emerged as a community leader, serving as a trustee for the Sunset Hill Community Association, representing it at the Ballard District Council, then representing Ballard at the City Neighborhood Council. He served on the Neighborhood Matching Fund Citywide Review Team, helping award grants for community project throughout the city. He was recently elected to his 2nd term as Sunset Hill Community Association President, where he has overseen the creation of a successful raingarden at their clubhouse. More recently, he spearheaded the Sunstation Park design project, co-sponsored by Groundswell, which resulted in an innovative concept for transforming a surplussed City Light substation into a solar generation park and community gathering space.