A Bethesda woman with an innovative idea for excess food and a Chevy Chase man known as “Recyclo” were among the five winners of this year’s Bethesda Magazine Green Awards.
Cheryl Kollin, who started the Farm to Freezer program this year, won the business or nonprofit category. Kollin, 56, organizes volunteers who purchase squash, eggplant, green peppers, zucchini and other vegetables from a Silver Spring farmers market, then partially cook the produce for freeze storage at the Manna food bank.
The idea is to fill in the large gap between excess, wasted produce and the underfed of Montgomery County who desperately need nutritious food options, especially over the winter months.
It was a similar partnership last year with homeless prevention nonprofit Bethesda Cares that got Kollin and her Full Plate Ventures nonprofit started.
Chevy Chase resident Brian Detwiler won the Green Award for “individuals who are actively promoting and living a green lifestyle,” for essentially putting his money where his mouth is. Detwiler is the owner of a Honda Fit EV, an electric car. His home has solar panels and he walks to bikes to work in downtown Bethesda.
That has led to the “Recyclo” nickname.
“There are only a couple of people who call me that,” Detwiler told Bethesda Magazine. “It’s kind of a playful thing, but it gives me hope that my actions may inspire other people to see that recycling is not that much trouble. It takes such a little effort to change your lifestyle.”
Bethesda Magazine hosts the award show and annual gala with nonprofit Bethesda Green.
Other winners include the Founding Farmers restaurant in Potomac, the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville and Abt Associates, which has offices in Bethesda.
