Hosting a native plant giveaway is more than handing out greenery — it’s an opportunity to cultivate stewardship, biodiversity, and long-term impact in your community.
Join IPC for this practical and inspiring session all about native plant giveaways, an effort led by our partners at the National Wildlife Federation through the Sacred Grounds Program. We’ll explore the essential do’s and don’ts of organizing a successful native plant giveaway. From selecting the right species and preparing volunteers, to educating recipients and ensuring plants thrive after they leave your site, we’ll cover strategies that move beyond distribution toward meaningful ecological change.
Whether you’re planning your first giveaway or refining an established effort, this webinar will equip you with tools to:
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Choose native plants suited to your region and site conditions
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Set participants up for planting success
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Avoid common logistical pitfalls
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Strengthen community engagement and follow-up
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Connect plant giveaways to your broader stewardship goals
Native plants do more than beautify our grounds — they restore habitat, support pollinators, and reflect our shared call to care for creation.
Come ready to learn, ask questions, and plant with purpose.
Guest Speakers:
Naomi Edelson - is an inspirational leader in the wildlife conservation community who is gifted at building movements of people inspired to action. She is
respected for convening coalitions and motivating teams for success, as well as being an innovator in the field, creating new practical tools and expert guidance. As Senior Director for Wildlife Partnerships at National Wildlife Federation, she leads their partnerships with state wildlife agencies and other state based partners to secure greater funding to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, including legislative, communications, grassroots and coalition building elements of the campaign. On the federal side this includes the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act campaign (www.nwf.org/recoveringamericaswildlife). Naomi has also developed a state-based toolkit for wildlife leaders on “Strengthening State Wildlife Agencies” which includes securing state-level funding for wildlife with numerous tips, tools, and case studies. She also works with Gardening for Wildlife program (www.nwf.org/garden) to restore wildlife habitat where people live, work, learn, play and worship, including creation of the Native Plant Finder (www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder) and Sacred Grounds, a program for faith communities.
Darrell Smith - has led St. Michael's Green Team since its establishment eight years ago. A native of Maryland who has also lived in Rhode Island and Florida, he has become passionate about native plants, not only continuing St. Michael's participation in the National Wildlife Federation's Sacred Grounds program, but also replacing much of his own lawn with native plant gardens. When he and his wife, Anna, are not volunteering at St. Michael's or gardening, they are likely at their paid jobs at the Maryland Transit Administration and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. In fact, the Smiths are a complete transportation family, with their son, Conrad, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Mary (Kay) Kolle - helps lead a diverse group of concerned citizens who have heard the call to serve environmental 
justice on their Green Team at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Gaithersburg, MD. Called to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed through educating their members, installing best management practices at their congregation among projects including rain and native plant gardens, native trees and shrubs, conservation landscaping, and native plant giveaways We are very thankful to our friends and their faith leader Padre Javier who have done so much work by taking part in this mission and vision of caring for Creation with the help of IPC and programs like the Faithful Green Leaders Training and Sacred Grounds that empower congregations to be good stewards to their community and grounds.
These webinars are supplemental to IPC's Faithful Green Leaders Training Program and are free and open to all.
(top photograph: Maryland and Virginia Native Plants - Ten Easy Plants for Moist Areas, https://www.nutsfornatives.com/post/maryland-and-virginia-native-plants-ten-easy-plants-for-moist-areas)
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