Project Porchlight Blog

When Wendy Ford (pictured here) first moved into the home she shares with her husband in Eastampton, New Jersey, the yard was just a plot of land with a house on it.

Then she started digging.

Wendy is an avid gardener, and over the years, her garden became something of a neighborhood attraction. “I’m always out in my yard, working on the garden,” she says. “People walking by will stop and ask if it’s okay to come into the yard and look around.”

Wendy’s garden is beautifully landscaped in more ways than one. “I try to stay as organic as I can, and I don’t use chemicals,” she says. “I enjoy natural landscaping. I like to use native plants, which are good for the environment because they don’ t require a lot of care.”

A little more than five years ago, a township councilmember stopped by to admire Wendy’s garden. Then he invited her to join the Environmental Commission. “They thought I would be an asset to the Commission,” says Wendy.

They were right: In her role as Environmental Commissioner, Wendy organized Project Porchlight’s Eastampton Blitz on June 25. A small but dedicated group of volunteers educated their community that day about the energy savings offered by compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs as well as the energy efficiency programs that are available through New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP). A total of 808 CFL bulbs were distributed, part of Project Porchlight New Jersey’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs to residents across the state. Project Porchlight is an initiative of One Change, and the campaign is made possible thanks to funding by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and NJCEP.

Wendy was thrilled with the Eastampton Blitz. “Project Porchlight really is a great, great program,” she says. “I don’t think that people realize the impact that CFL bulbs can have.”

In between time spent on her garden and her work for the Environmental Commission, Wendy serves as a patient care technician at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in nearby Browns Mills. She finds the job tremendously satisfying. “We see a very high volume of patients in the clinic, and a lot of them don’t have health insurance,” she says. “Being able to give care to people who can’t afford it is kind of cool--it makes me feel good.”

So do her efforts to make Eastampton greener. Wendy is currently working on a project—funded by a grant from Wal-Mart—to improve the township’s recreation building. “We’ve built a rain garden using all native plants, and the children in the recreation department’s summer program are making a mosaic mural on the wall using recycled glass,” she says proudly. “We’re also landscaping with native plants all around the rec building, and we’re doing all the work ourselves.”

When it comes to protecting our environment, simple actions really do matter! Even something as simple as digging holes in the ground—or changing a light bulb-- can make a difference.

By connecting with state residents one at a time, Project Porchlight is empowering people of all backgrounds to make smart, energy-efficient choices that protect the environment. “Education is the key to making our planet a greener place to live,” says Wendy. “I myself, being an Environmental Commissioner, learned a lot from Project Porchlight. I didn’t know very much about CFL bulbs. I didn’t realize how much energy they save. I didn’t realize the positive impact they can have on the environment.”