Derek Strohl Wins Patch's Person of the Year

Despite some controversy and road blocks of the effort, Port Washington's first community garden was in full bloom this summer thanks in large part to the efforts of organizer Derek Strohl.

These accomplishments are the reasons Strohl received an overwhelming amount of support from the community, and the large number of nominations Patch received make him our Person of the Year.

Strohl also received the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce.

"His tenacity in getting the Community Garden approved and established was an admirable accomplishment," Michelle Pike said in an e-mail to Patch nominating Strohl. "Working within the exigencies of government rules and regulations isn't always easy."

"If it weren't for (Derek) we would never have been able to get this off the ground," Susan Olson wrote in her e-mail to Patch. "It is teaching people in the community about eating healthily and taking control of your own health."

Others who nominated Strohl pointed out that it was not just the work he's done this year that should prove him worthy of the title.

"I know Derek had to work for a couple of years to really sell all the positives of a community garden to the city, and after that step — getting the plots counted out and assigned, starting the garden, organizing all the necessary overall maintenance of the garden, coordinating projects with some of the Scouts so they could advance their levels, and then putting all the time and effort into the continuation of a garden during a record drought year without personal gain," Carol Meinerz said in an e-mail to Patch. "If there is somebody more worthy, I can't wait to hear who it is, but please consider all Derek has done."

Patch did, in fact, receive a number of nominations for other worthy members of the community; stay tuned in the coming weeks for feature stories recognizing those individuals' stories. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss any!

More about the Hales Trail Community Garden

• Port's First Community Garden Approved Despite Some Controversy
• Community Garden Fence Made Possible by Port High Student