For release Friday, August 12, 2022
\nGrants Pass: The Four Way Community Foundation is proud to name Brenda Patton winner of the 2022 Distinguished Service Award. The award comes with a check for $10,000 to the local nonprofit of the winner\u2019s choice, and will be presented at the Foundation\u2019s Celebration of Community Spirit dinner on Thursday, November 3, from 5:30 to 8 PM, at Evergreen Bank\u2019s Bear Hotel.<\/p>\n
Brenda Patton is the co-founder (along with the late Phil Hart) of the nonprofit Table Rock Foundation, which provides youth camping experiences of many types, including grief and trauma healing, empowering girls, and hands-on skill-building in forestry practices. From 1997-2006, Brenda and the Table Rock Foundation supported the return of the Salmon Ceremony, bringing this tribal tradition back to the land. She was a founder and past president of the Rogue Gateway Rotary Club. Brenda\u2019s extensive work with youth also includes Rotary Youth Leadership Academy and the Interact Club at North Valley High School.<\/p>\n
Four Way Community Foundation president Greg Fishwick said of Patton, \u201cBrenda nurtures and embodies community connection: across generations as a Rainbow Grandmother and youth camp organizer, among community members as a founder of Rogue Gateway Rotary Club, and with the environment as a steward of resilient forests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda and her late husband, Jan Patton, gradually purchased 375 logged-over acres in the Shan Creek area and diligently rehabilitated them for optimum forest health and educational, spiritual, and recreational use, as well as wood harvest. They were named \u201cTree Farmers of the Year\u201d by the Josephine Forest Farm Association and the American Tree Farm Association for their outstanding forest management. In 2018, their practices proved both prescient and effective when their \u201cEnchanted Forest\u201d withstood the raging Taylor Creek Fire nearly unscathed, serving as a natural barrier to the fire\u2019s spread. Biochar and forest management workshops there have trained forest rangers from four ranger districts as well as representatives from several restoration companies.<\/p>\n
Brenda Patton is a graduate of Rogue Community College, and as a Licensed Tax Consultant she owned and managed H Street Business and Tax Services until her retirement in 2018. To honor her by attending the Four Way Community Foundation Celebration of Community Spirit, email fourwaycommfdn@gmail.com, or visit fourwaycommunityfoundation.org\/celebration.<\/p>\n
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The Four Way Community Foundation cultivates philanthropy and nonprofit success in Josephine and western Jackson counties. To request a presentation to your group, or to schedule a personal meeting, please contact Four Way Executive Director Kate Dwyer at 474-9774. To learn more, to make a gift, or to apply for a grant, visit the website at fourwaycommunityfoundation.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For release Friday, August 12, 2022 Grants Pass: The Four Way Community Foundation is proud to name Brenda Patton winner of the 2022 Distinguished Service Award. The award comes with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[208,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n