The Dunwoody Sustainability Committee honored corporate and individual honorees as “sustainable heroes” during the recent State of the City community event for their work to create a more environmental-friendly city.

Su Ellis, left, was congratulated by Dunwoody Executive Director Michael Cowan at the April 11 State of the City as the city’s Sustainability Hero for her work in initiating the city’s Milkweed Project and championing planting and nurturing native species at the Dunwoody Nature Center. (Dyana Bagby)

The 2018 honorees are Solar CrowdSource for its successful Solarize Dunwoody campaign and to Su Ellis, a longtime community volunteer who initiated the city’s Milkweed Project to inspire pollinator gardens and preserve monarch butterflies.

Michael Cowan, the executive director of the Dunwoody Nature Center and chair of the Sustainability Committee, praised both at the April 11 State of the City held at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel.

“Their actions are what make progress possible,” he said.

Donald Moreland, founder of Solar CrowdSource, accepted the award and praised the Solarize Dunwoody campaign that resulted in 50 residential solar panel installations in the city. He also said Dunwoody represented a milestone for the Georgia solar industry because 70 percent of homeowners purchased battery storage for their solar panels, surpassing any other city undertaking a solarize campaign.

Michael Cowan, right, executive director of the Dunwoody Nature Center and chair of the city’s Sustainability Committee, recognized Donald Moreland, founder of Solar CrowdSource, as the corporate Sustainability Hero for 2018.

The Solarize Dunwoody campaign success also resulted in the donation of a 10KW array solar system to the Community Assistance Center, expected to save the nonprofit organization more than $2,000 annually.

Su Ellis is a Master Gardner and Dunwoody Nature Center volunteer who has served twice as the DNC’s board president. She is a champion of growing native species at the Nature Center, Cowan said, and started the city’s Milkweed Program, Cowan said.