Faces of Fusion Environmental Sustainability Award

It is truly an honour to be awarded the Environmental Sustainability Award from Fusion Saint John. When I found out I had been nominated to recognize the community impact of my work, I was genuinely touched. Listening to the incredible work done by the other nominees at the awards ceremony, I felt even more humbled to be nominated and ultimately, to win this award.

I want to share this recognition with all of you and hope you are as motivated to continue your work as I am.

This process has also led me to reflect on everything I've been involved with since starting at ACAP Saint John and how we measure community impact. There are so many tangible numbers I could share to demonstrate how our work has touched the Saint John community, from thousands of trees planted in parks and green spaces, tons of litter removed, and climate adaptation projects that have helped address flooding to stormwater issues. These accomplishments are vital, but when I think about community impact, I focus less on the physical work and more on how people engage with, participate in, and connect to our work.

Some of my favorite moments in this role come from seeing community members’ eyes light up when they get their hands dirty at an event, discover a new place through our initiatives, or work with local groups to bring about meaningful change. I also love hearing personal stories about what these opportunities have meant to people. I’ll never get tired of hearing about how community members visit past tree planting sites to check on the trees they planted, kids’ adventurous outdoor stories, or how something as simple as planting trees has fundamentally changed how people use a space.

This award is a reflection of the collective efforts of many ACAPers, both past and present, and I am incredibly proud to share this achievement with all of you! None of this would be possible without the dedicated ACAP team and our amazing volunteers. I hope each of you feels as proud of the work you’ve done as I do to improve and protect our unique region.

Whether you’ve volunteered to plant trees and pick up litter, attended an information session, visited us at a market, invited us to speak about the environment, or reached out with a project idea - each of you has made your mark, and we are deeply grateful for your involvement.

As they say, it takes a village, and I am so fortunate that our village is the Saint John community.

Once again, thank you!

- Roxanne