As a 20-year veteran of volunteering for WPC, Beverly Boogie is no stranger to getting dirty. In fact, the NICU nurse finds that gardening and volunteering to keep her neighborhood beautiful and green is a great way to relax.

Denise Taylor answered the call to volunteer with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy 17 years ago and hasn’t looked back. Three community flower gardens have benefited from Denise’s gardening know how, and she loves passing that knowledge on to volunteers young and old as well as her own friends.

Elaine Riberich’s dedication to stewarding community flower gardens is so great that she even convinced a city councilwoman to refurbish nearby benches so that visitors could sit and enjoy the lovely space in a neighborhood garden. A volunteer since 2001, Elaine stewards two gardens and creating beautiful landscapes for people to enjoy.

Eric Chiu discovered volunteering at WPC as a freshman at Pitt in 2017 and found it’s a great way to explore Pittsburgh and make friends.

French Creek and its amazing array of wildlife hold a special place in the hearts of many, including a couple that now lives six hours away from this northwestern Pennsylvania waterway. On a trip “home” years ago, Joyce and Larry DeYoung were delighted to find an abundance of softshell turtles in French Creek, once a rare sighting.

They attribute this resurgence to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s conservation of this amazing part of the region. And it is work like this that makes the Conservancy so important to the DeYoungs.

A native of Lawrence Park in Erie County, Joyce DeYoung spent her childhood enjoying the beaches, lagoons and hiking trails at Presque Isle. She especially looked forward to visiting her relatives in rural Warren County, where she could explore the hills and streams.

Now residents of Chester County in Eastern Pennsylvania, Joyce and her husband, Larry, still enjoy hiking and being outdoors. As Conservancy members since 1985, the DeYoungs were excited to learn that WPC was

Julie Ewing has lived in the tight-knit community of Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill since 1999. Along with her hobby of mushroom gathering, she’s always had an affinity for improving her neighborhood. Julie joined other neighbors – self-named the “Troy Hooligans” – who wanted to make their community better, leading trash pick-ups, community garden plantings and even arranged a local mural. The Troy Hooligans became connected to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s TreeVitalize Pittsburgh partnership through their work as Tree Tenders with Tree Pittsburgh. Julie realized that tree plantings and tree care were fun and rewarding ways to give back to her neighborhood.