May 28, 2016 3 min read

More often than not on this page, we decry the misdeeds of individuals, the failures of our institutions and the ways our leaders steer us down the wrong path.

Today, to paraphrase Shakespeare, we’re not going to bury, but praise.

Two local organizations that are doing excellent work in Washington County richly deserve that praise: Highland Ridge Community Development Corp. and Independence Conservancy. Both groups were recently bestowed with President’s Choice Awards from the Washington County Community Foundation.

The awards come with $10,000 unrestricted grants from the Foundation’s Acorn Fund and are designed to assist small charities in the same way the foundation was given a leg up in its early days.

Recipients of the honor must have operating budgets of less than $250,000, have been operating for more than three years, and provide programming in such areas as education, the environment, the arts and humanities, animal welfare, health and fitness, human needs and religion or faith-based issues.

“It’s kind of like a pay-it-forward,” said Betsie Trew, Washington County Community Foundation’s president. “A $10,000 grant to (the two groups) is huge. It’s one of the most impactful things the Community Foundation does. Both groups are doing great things.”

What are those great things? Independence Conservancy seeks to preserve open space in the region, along with habitats for wildlife and scenic views. Since it was founded in 1999, the organization has achieved more than $1.5 million worth of land preservation and environmental reclamation work.

It operates the abandoned mine discharge treatment systems in the Raccoon Creek Watershed and is in the process of establishing the Langeloth Valley Conservation Area near Burgettstown. It will permanently preserve 73 acres of wetlands, woodlands and streams near the onetime smelter site of the American Zinc & Chemical Co.

Meanwhile, Highland Ridge Community Development Corp. has won plaudits for its extensive work in the Highland Ridge neighborhood in Washington. The organization helps families, senior citizens, veterans and other individuals in need. In an area that has been plagued by blight, Highland Ridge Community Development Corp. directs a program called Mending Fences, which puts volunteers to work renovating homes and making repairs for residents who can’t afford to do so or don’t have the ability. This is a critical part of keeping blight at bay. It also oversees a clean-up and gardening program for the neighborhood.

The late civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez once remarked that we just can’t live insulated lives, tend to our own doings and achievements and overlook the needs of the communities in which we live. “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own,” Chavez said.

Both Independence Conservancy and Highland Ridge Community Development Corp. live up to that ideal. And for that they deserve commendation.