Cutting the ribbon to the new YWCA Breast Cancer Resource Center on D&R Greenway Land Trust’s Conservation Campus, pictured from left, Nancy Faherty of YWCA Princeton, Margee Harper D&R Greenway Trustee, Judy Hutton of YWCA Princeton, Paula Flory of the Breast Cancer Resource Center, D&R Greenway President and CEO Linda Mead, Chairman Brian Breuel and Operations Manager Laurie Emde.
D&R Greenway Land Trust has announced the plans for its Princeton campus to become a Conservation Campus. The YWCA Princeton Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) will be its first campus partner by moving into 2 Preservation Place.
The Johnson Education Center, headquarters for D&R Greenway, is known for its conservation-focused art exhibits and educational programs and for its community meeting space used by five garden clubs, the Princeton Photography club, educational institutions and government partners.
D&R Greenway acquired the three homes adjacent to its Johnson Education Center through a generous grant from the George H. and Estelle M. Sands Foundation. It is developing a vision for a Conservation Campus where nonprofits aligned with D&R Greenway’s mission of inspiring a conservation ethic can share resources and ideas.
Recent scientific studies have shown that green space offers numerous health benefits. Walking in nature reduces depression and anxiety, it reduces stress hormones and blood pressure; being outdoors near preserved land increases opportunities for exercise and offers greater health benefits than indoor exercise. (For more information on these studies and sources, visit drgreenway.org)
The three campus houses, once part of the Robert Wood Johnson Estate that D&R Greenway and partners preserved in 2001, were originally sold to the Hun School of Princeton to help fund the purchase of Greenway Meadows. The Johnson Education Center, a model of adaptive reuse of a circa 1900 barn, opened on the campus in 2006.
When the Hun School decided to move teachers back to its own campus and sell the three houses, D&R Greenway bought back all three houses, thanks to the Sands Foundation.
