Stephanie Snyder Seliga '06 (right)
Stephanie Snyder Seliga '06 (right)

Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
(574) 284-4579

June 4, 2011 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—The Humanitas Award, awarded annually by the Alumnae Association of Saint Mary’s College, recognizes an alumna who is outstanding in her personal and volunteer accomplishments and is recognized for her concern for the interests and welfare of her fellow human beings. Her actions exemplify the qualities of personal dedication, compassion, selflessness and sacrifice through social action, education, and reform within the community, the church and the world. The 2011 recipient is Stephanie Snyder Seliga ’06 of Seattle, who through grassroots efforts and as an agent for social change, is laying the groundwork in establishing a just food system for all. Seliga was announced as the Humanitas Award recipient at tonight's Reunion Banquet, a part of Reunion Weekend, June 2-5.

“In her belief that all people deserve good and healthy food, that babies deserve to be born into communities that produce their own food, and that children deserve the pleasure of partaking in their own food production, Seliga’s work has become a catalyst in assuring fresh, healthy food for everyone,” said Jane E. McGroarty Sampaio ’09 in her nomination of Seliga. “To Stephanie, the act of growing one’s own food is far more than economical and healthy. With conviction, she believes it is how God intends for us to live.” 

Shortly after graduation and armed with a philosophy degree, she first put that contemplation into action by joining the AmeriCorps program as its Kitchen Garden Project Coordinator in Washington state. There, she coordinated the building of more than 100 backyard gardens for low-income families. She ideated a garden build celebration called Day of the Bed to raise project awareness and funds totaling nearly $4,000 to build more gardens. That event soon spun off into a similar project in Portland, Oregon, known as Dawn of the Bed. In 2009, she moved to Seattle where she co-founded Cascadian Edible Landscapes, a landscaping company and nursery that make fruitful and edible vegetation spaces on urban soil. Plant starts and profits from that company support non-profit organizations that offer sliding-scale services.

In 2010, Seliga lent her vision and leadership to establishing Spring into Bed, a garden-build day in Seattle in which over 250 volunteers built nine free gardens and supported 15 existing gardens for low-income families while raising funds for food justice awareness. Last year, she also founded the Just Garden Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a just food system and a culture of gardening for all people. Last year, Seliga joined the Seattle-based Ground Up Organics, a project of the non-profit Creatives4Community, which seeks to build healthy, self-sustaining communities by bringing young, diverse, inter-urban residents into the green food agricultural movement. As Ground Up Organics’ youth program coordinator, Seliga facilitates the creation of employment programs for international youth at Yesler Terrace, the oldest integrated housing project in the country.

About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary’s College ranks among the top 100 “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” in the U.S. News & World Report 2011 College Guide. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.