Amanda Kim nominated Rosemary for her exceptional leadership of the Brewery Creek community garden these past two years. In addition to managing posAbilities’ two community garden plots, she also holds monthly meetings with several of our programs. Her work is key to keeping the garden running smoothly. Rosemary tackles everything from coordinating planting and garden maintenance schedules, to managing the weekly water schedule to ensure everyone has access to water.

She also ensures that posAbilities meets all of its community garden contribution requirements. In fact, Rosemary arranged a meeting with one of our residential programs during her time off so that she could participate in the garden cleaning party. Now that’s dedication!

Amanda describes Rosemary as “one of the main contacts with the garden committee,” and it’s easy to see why. She’s always eager to share her love of gardening with others and even runs small workshops, including the scavenger hunts.”

Amanda ended her account with this anecdote:

“Last year, Rosemary applied for a neighborhood small grant to host a garden party for the neighborhood – she had a bee trivia spin-the-wheel game, took pictures of the different vegetables/plants/flowers for people to find in a scavenger hunt style, vegetable prints for anyone who wanted to do them, a compost information session, and had small snacks/refreshments along with live music and prizes for the two games. Everyone had a great time at this event. Rosemary has been doing all of this on top of her regular job duties as the Community Inclusion Coordinator.”

Thank you, Rosemary, for all that you have done that embodies the spirit of the Believe Award!

Next up, was the Inspire award, which was given to Sharon Smiley for inclusion, person-centered thinking, and excellence. Sharon was nominated by Brooke Oxley, who explained that:

“Sharon wanted to bridge community connecting work (Building Caring Communities) to Sexual Health Educator work (Real-Talk) in some capacity, so when Options for Sexual Health received a grant to make the SIXpo (Sexuality, Inclusion, Exploration – expo) festival happen, Sharon was a natural fit for the co-ordination role.”

Brooke then shared some of Sharon’s responsibilities for the past year and a half, which included soliciting, convening and facilitating steering committee meetings of self-advocates (participants), ensuring their voices were heard, and taking their input and final say on key decisions. Sharon also worked with partner agencies to solicit in-kind donations of staff hours and the creation of secondment agreements. Sharon played a crucial role in promoting a sociocracy organizing model by forming circles and ensuring that participants were represented in each of them. Circle members contributed to work that inspired and engaged them. Throughout the event organizing process, Sharon was a resource person and a supporter, answering questions and promoting reflection and growth. Sharon also helped create a job description for a production coordinator, and ensured that participants were involved in the interview and selection process. Outside of the organizing team, Sharon built a variety of community partnerships, securing sponsorships and donations from Techlink and Microsoft to name two…

Brooke shared some insights about the values Sharon embodied:

• Inclusion and Equity — “This came up as Sharon solicited staff, self-advocates (participants), and community volunteers. Sharon wanted to ensure that people involved in organizing SIXPO reflected the diverse community that we live in.”
• Accountability — “Sharon kept organized and on task, responsive to people through in-person meetings, email/text, and over the phone.”
• Care — “I saw a lot of care and concern for the people that Sharon [built relationships with] – making space for people’s feelings, clearing the air, and being responsive to people’s needs. Sharon also had a great understanding of ‘reasonable pace’ and ensured others were not burning out due to their work with SIXpo.”
• Reflection, Learning, and Growth — “Sharon is a reflective person, and in this role, I could see Sharon considering things from many angles, asking big questions, listening to others, and taking in feedback. Post SIXpo, I see Sharon bringing humility and a desire to improve, rooted in a value of fairness and finding a reciprocal learning space.”

To conclude, Brooke mentioned that SIXpo couldn’t have happened without Sharon’s “superb” help in finding the right people for the event, “ensuring self-advocate voices were present and centered, and always continuing to fan the flames of SIXpo.”