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Wildlife Conservation Center volunteer wins $60K BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
T
he Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center has had a lot to celebrate recently as one of its volunteers was awarded $60,000 by Cox Conserves Heroes for her efforts in conservation. Diane Vaszily has been involved in conservation ever since she was 16 and has devoted over a decade to aiding the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center (SWCC) in its educational efforts. Vaszily has had a love of nature and the outdoors for as long as she can remember. “As a kid, like every kid, I was intrigued by every animal that peered behind a branch,” she said. “I am a questioning type of person and I was crazy into science growing up.” Over 40 years ago, Vaszily left her native Pennsylvania to venture to a state with a wider range of wildlife. “Wildlife became more important when
Diane Vaszily has been involved in conservation sicne she was 16 and was honored for her work with Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center. (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)
I left Pennsylvania and went to Florida in 1970,” she said. “In Florida, you’re around wildlife that is of concern to people. I saw
immediately that people in south Florida – like in Arizona – had come from somewhere else and did not understand the
environment where the animals roll in it. I re-dedicated and redirected myself to that effort immediately.” While living in Florida, Vaszily was inspired by conservationist and activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, whom she eventually met. “It was my desire to meet her, talk with her and see how I could carry on what she was doing, which I did,” Vaszily said. “In Florida, I became an environmental educator as well as a science educator and I would take people into the Everglades to show them how important it was, let them experience it and learn how to keep it the way it is.” Ever since finding her calling, Vaszily has centered her life around a single goal: “Everything I’ve done is inform people that these animals have their place in a particular environment and how we can continue to allow it to have its place and share it.”
see WILDLIFE page 26
At 50, A New Life continues to serve region
BY TOM SCANLON Progress Contributor
I
t was 1971. In football, the Cardinals season was off to a promising start – in St. Louis. The team wouldn’t move to Arizona for another 16 years. In baseball, Jason Giambi and Hall of Famers Pedro Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez were born, but the Arizona Diamondbacks wouldn’t be for another 17 years. Other than being a Cactus League hub for a few months, Mesa – like most of the East Valley – was best known for its miles and miles of orange groves and dairy farms, with smells ranging from sweet to offensive, depending on the neighborhood. But, with more people drifting out of the City of Phoenix, U.S. Census figures an-
A New Leaf is celebrating a half century of providing social services. Mike Hughes has been CEO of the nonprofit for more than 40 of its 50 years. (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)
nounced in 1971 that Mesa’s population had nearly doubled over the previous decade. Though its modest 66,049 population was a long way from the explosive post2000 growth that would make it home to over a half-million, Mesa was growing from a farm town to a small city. And with urban growth came urban problems: people struggling to pay rent, victims of domestic violence, drug abuse, broken families. Enter an agency that took its name from second chances: A New Leaf. Mike Hughes has come to be the face of the social services provider that now employs hundreds and provides assistance to thousands throughout the East Valley and
see LEAF page 27
