BEE THE CHANGE!

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Rescue MI Nature Now, Inc.

About Us

A collective of passionate environmentalist striving to maintain Earth’s natural resources. 

Working Hard to Connecting & Restoring Green Spaces

Rescue MI Nature Now, Inc. is a Michigan Nonprofit Organization that is dedicated to developing green spaces within the community and providing nature based educational programs. We will accomplish this goal by purchasing unused, or underused, parcels of land and transforming them into community green space by planting trees, flowers, and other native plants. Along with transforming unused land, we will be placing insect hotels on the improved parcels and educating the community on the important role honey bees play in pollination.

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Our Organization

In our world today many do not value the importance of maintaining a beautiful earth. Our goal is to connect , rebuild natural habitats and restore faith in the surrounding communities. We began as a beekeeping family and wanted to expand our passions which include working in the community, uplifting the youth and lending a helping hand.

 Additionally, we will also offer educational programs for the community focusing on nature and teaching marketable job skills. Ultimately, through our organization’s programs and services, we hope to make our community a better place to live by beautifying vacant parcels of land and increasing the community’s appreciation of nature.

Through our combined efforts we aim to develop green spaces within  communities alongside nature based educational programs with the purpose of create beneficial environments for the earth & individuals. We remain motivated to our goals & will fuel our passionate to creating future ecosystems.

Our Team

Our team is compromised of professionals, enthusiasts, and environmentalists with a shared passion for the persevering environments and nature-based educational programs.

Tharmond Ligon

President

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Zenaida Flores

Vice President/Research Director

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Brodrick Wilks

Treasurer

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Andrew Buendia

Communications Director

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Bonnie Whittaker

Secretary

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Mark Green

Board Member

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Jason E. Graddy

Board Memebr

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Justin Petty

Board Member

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Andrew Sims

Board Member

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Janai Frazier

Content Director/ Market Director

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Community Projects

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Community Gardens

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Urban Conservation Development

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Youth Group Progams

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Beehive Explorations

Tharmond served as a Sustainability Ambassador for his District and assisted the City of Detroit to complete the first Sustainability Action Agenda. For his efforts, Tharmond was recognized with The Spirit of Detroit Award. Tharmond has always had a passion for gardening from a young age and has continued as an adult as he has helped maintain our community garden, Flores Farms, for the past 4 years by helping educate people on the health benefits associated with eating organically grown produce and herbs. Tharmond is dedicated in bringing nutritional & financial awareness to his community through our community garden and program called Farm & Finance. This educational program focuses on licensed financial representatives teaching financial concepts like compounding, by way of our community garden. Currently, Tharmond serves his community as the Vice President of Keep It Clean Block Club. Tharmond’s hobbies include traveling, birdwatching and spending time with his dogs Lexus, Jasmine, and Rocky.

Zenaida received the Spirit of Detroit Award for her role as a Sustainability Ambassador where she assisted in the Sustainability Action Agenda.  Zenaida graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. Zenaida’s hobbies include reading, listening to self-development videos, and cooking new recipes.

Brodrick Wilks is a Recent University of Michigan graduate with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration; coordinated with Brilliant Detroit to host 30 Axiom student volunteers in August 2019 where they helped transform vacant lots by beautifying and cleaning up a green space and removing overgrown tree brush and weeds from community garden.

Andrew Buendia is a graduate from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with a dual bachelors in Political Science and Sociology. Fueled by a passion to ensure that Detroit communities are directly representative of not just the current residents, but also the long lineage of residents is what prompted Andrew to become more involved with the city he grew up in. One way to do this is by coordinating community relations to gain better insight to what the community not only wants, but the best method of action to go about solving their impending issues.

Bonnie Whittaker holds a Master of Business Administration from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration/Accounting from University of Detroit.  After retiring from 27.5 years of employment at Third Judicial Circuit Court, she started her involvement with nature and gardening by completing the inaugural session of Urban Roots at what is now Keep Growing Detroit. Bonnie has been cultivating a garden with the students at Nolan Elementary/Middle School since 2008.  

Mark Green currently holds a lead supervisor license in lead awareness and certifications for OSHA 10 and OSHA 30, partnered with Green’s Enterprise Group in order to assist a senior citizen in coordinating a demolition of a dangerous nuisance structure using private funding in February 2019 resulting in the transformation from a vacant lot to a butterfly garden featuring cosmos.

Jason E Graddy Sr is a Technical Operations Supervisor for one of the leading cable companies in the City of Detroit.  In his leadership role, he is responsible for the training, development, and promotion of 11 Technicians servicing the city.

 Born in 1982 on Detroit’s west side., as a young kid, he used to love going over to his Grangparent’s house to visit.  Jason enjoyed watching his Grandfather work in his garden. He always enjoyed picking and eating fresh tomatoes.  Married on March 29th 2003 at the age of 21, it wasn’t until after he purchased his first home in 2010 that he was able to start his own garden.  It wasn’t until then that he was able to truly appreciate the taste and health benefits of eating fresh organic vegetables.  Now he, his wife and two sons have been eating a vegetarian diet since June 2016.  During this time, Jason and his family has inspired close friends, family, and coworkers to transition to a vegetarian diet.  Jason’s hobbies include, reading, spending quality time with his family, going on dates with his wife, working in the garden and playing basketball with his two sons. 

 Andrew serves as Vice President, Central & Western MI & Marketing & Communication for the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council. The MMSDC is a non-profit organization promoting the economic growth of our corporate members and the minority-owned businesses that serve them.

He is a natural visionary who connects well with people. Outstanding negotiation and communication skills with performance driven tendency and able to thrive in fluid and dynamic environments. Skilled at leveraging resources and talent for outcome optimization. 

Prior to this position, Sims most recently was Director, DWH. DWH is a group of highly accomplished financial and business specialists helping small and mid-size companies in many different industries maximize value, opportunities, and business outcomes.

Sims has been a small business owner in multiple companies for over two decades. In addition, he has served as Nation Builder for a multi-state mentoring program, SIMBA Circle, Junior Achievement of Michigan and business coach for several small & mid-sized companies.  

He earned his Bachelor of Administration degree in Accounting from Baker College. Sims is also a graduate of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Executive Leadership Program.

Janai has an abundance of love for nature, she has an eye for detail and often finds beauty in our community today. She serves her community by volunteering with us as our content director and market coordinator. She is interested in sustainable energies and has five years of experience in the utilities industry. Janai also has five years of experience in nutritional and balanced meals. Janai received her culinary arts degree in Michigan’s Army National Guard, where she has contributed to feeding 9,000 thousand soldiers. Janai loves to help the community she lives in. She serves as a Notary Public for Wayne County. Her hobbies include, using ingredients in the community garden to create delicious meals, capturing moments, and aquariums.