Love Parks Gala Award Winners
On Friday, September 20, our Love Parks Gala will celebrate the people behind our parks and public spaces. We will be honoring three members of the community that evening at the Museum of History and Industry:
Ken Bounds Leadership Award: recognizing pillars of the community either through civic leadership or philanthropy. Strategic and passionate about parks! Winner: Deb McNeil has lived in the South Park neighborhood for 25 years. It has been her honor to support green public space projects in South Park through a fund established to honor the memory of her late husband.
Community Impact Award: recognizing those with a track record of grassroots community leadership in parks and public spaces. Winner: Robert Stephens Jr. has had a profound impact on the cultural life of the Central District, helping create programs and community facilities such as Black Arts West, Langston Hughes Theater, Medgar Evers Pool, Madrona Dance Studio (Spectrum Dance Studio), and Seattle Veterans Program (SEA/VETS), just to name a few.
He volunteered to support the renovation of Garfield High School, the creation of the Quincy Jones Performance Center, and has been working on the transformation of Garfield Park for over 15 years. He also established the Central Area Cultural Arts Commission to ensure that the stories and experiences of the African-American population and other ethnic communities would not be erased by gentrification and redevelopment.
Love Parks Award: recognizing those involved in projects that have been transformational, with replicable ideas to benefit the community. Winner: Paige Reischl, better known as Eli’s mom, helped bring community into the center of the Eli’s Park Project, a seven-year effort resulting in the creation of Pathways Park. Throughout the project, Paige worked to create a culture of belonging for all. She believes intersectionality is a requirement for equity.
Celebrate their efforts along with the excellence of 300 community-led projects in 25 years of Seattle Parks Foundation!