Sari dreamed big, and her ambition attracted hundreds of volunteers, partners, and supporters who helped her make those dreams possible. For example, while on a tour of the Shenandoah County landfill, in a space where most people see only piles of trash and grass-covered hills, Sari saw the potential for native meadows. And Making Trash Bloom was born! Landfill managers got on board, and soon so did county administrators, state regulators, and waste industry professionals, who talked up the project and led to interest from as far away as the NASA Kennedy Space Center. Today, three Virginia landfills host Making Trash Bloom meadows, and we’re in talks with several more, both here and beyond the state.

Sari also had the vision to see social media’s potential to reach new audiences with environmental education. She invested in hiring a social media influencer to create engaging 60-second educational videos on a variety of environmental topics including waste reduction, native plants, and tips for living more sustainably. Those videos would rack up more than 26 million views in our social media manager’s first eight months, allowing us to impact the knowledge and behavior of an enormous, diverse audience of people who may not otherwise seek out environmental education.