Mahwah Environmentalist Wins National 'Jefferson Award for Public Service'

The following was submitted to Patch by MEVO.


The Jefferson Award for Public Service is positioned as the, “Nobel Prize for Public Service.”

It was Co-founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard. The Jefferson Awards Foundation is the country's longest standing and most prestigious organization dedicated to activating and celebrating public service.

"Each year, we gather in our nation's capital to recognize civic leaders who have exemplified the spirit of public service," said Joseph N. Sanberg, Chairman of the Jefferson Awards Foundation.

"By doing so, we honor the millions of other Americans who offer their time, their talents and their resources to the selfless cause of making others' lives better."

This year the nation’s highest honor for community service is being awarded to several extraordinary individuals and organizations whose selfless, noble and compassionate work has improved the lives of countless people and amplified our nation's collective commitment to helping one another and contributing to the larger good.

Founder and Executive Director of MEVO - the Mahwah Environmental Volunteer Organization - Eric J. Fuchs-Stengel, was one of five to receive the prestigious, “Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities,” and one of only 200 people since 1974 to receive this elite award. 

In a note to members of the organization, Fuchs-Stengel said "For a local not-for-profit organization founded in 2008, just six years ago, this award symbolizes that our mission, 'To be the model for the creation of scalable ecological solutions that inspires and empowers people to take action for a better future,' is being accomplished. Together, we are building a movement for environmental sustainability throughout Northern New Jersey that has national and international implications."

He also thanked the over 1,500 volunteers, past and present, who he said made the award possible.

"Our volunteers are the unsung heroes who dare to dream that the actions they take with their bare hands today: by cleaning up polluted forests, building low-impact hiking trails, managing eighteen community beehives, teaching people young and old about sustainable food, will empower a powerful movement for taking action on the world’s most serious environmental problems."

See Fuchs-Stengel win the award at 1:25:30 on this video.