Shawnee Council of Garden Clubs - Nonprofit Organization (annual budgets less than $100,000) Award for Beautification and Landscaping

Shawnee had a problem. A pair of historic sites considered iconic to the city's identity - the 100-year-old train depot and the first home constructed there after the land run in 1892 - had virtually no landscaping and no funds for substantial improvements.

The Shawnee Council of Garden Clubs obtained a modest grant, leveraged it into more than three times its original amount, and then used historical art to help suggest the landscaping plan. A dozen volunteers invested a total of more than 100 hours of labor and dramatically enhanced the attractiveness of both landmarks.

The beautiful landscaping and great effort will have a significant impact on the entire community for years to come. For its living lesson of using landscaping to enhance history, the Shawnee Council of Garden Clubs is good news for Oklahoma.