Celebrating and being celebrated with Upstream Minnesota

Rennie Gaither

A couple weeks ago, I was driving from Saint Paul to Colorado to my daughter’s wedding. Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, I received a call from Patricia Ohmans, founder of Frogtown Green. “Rennie, did you receive an email from Upstream Minnesota?” she asked excitedly. “I’ll just spill the beans,” she said. “You’ve won an award!”
Yes, I’d won an “Unsung Caretakers” award from Upstream Minnesota, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering environmental stewardship. Upstream’s mission is simple: to nurture Minnesotans’ love for our shared places and cultivate greater trust, connection and stewardship. Every year, Upstream celebrates a dozen “Unsung Caretakers” of our state’s environment. Amazingly, this year I was selected as one of them, as was my colleague at Frogtown Green, Xiem Vuong!
I’d received the invitation to the celebration, but neglected to accept, due to the precariousness of driving over 900 miles one way. The celebration was immediately after the wedding. Who knows how I’ll feel after the wedding festivities? I thought. But after further discussion and mental changes to the itinerary, I relented. I’d have to make a one-day drive back, earlier than planned, but I would be there.
My wife and I made it to the celebration dinner with only a few hours to spare. I’m glad I braved Nebraska’s flatlands, Stephen King’s killer semis and the occasional prairie wildlife crossings to accept my award in person! As I learned, the Caretakers were a socially diverse group from communities across Minnesota. Our accomplishments were quite varied. One Caretaker conducted free, guided meditations in parks and wild places. Another organized community cleanups and a Sustainability Task Force in her community. One gentleman led initiatives to reduce waste and improve air quality at his workplace over the course of 40 years.
As Upstream Minnesota shares on their website, awardees remind them that “stewardship takes many forms, from city leadership and innovation to gardening, teaching, and quiet daily actions that ripple outward.” And this sentiment rang true, as attendees learned at the celebration after a tasty, complimentary dinner.
Xiem and I, both former AmeriCorps workers with Frogtown Green, proudly received awards (personalized canoe paddles!) after describing how we began our respective stewardship journeys, and what our work entailed over the prior year. Xiem is now Frogtown Green’s outreach coordinator. She talked about her continuing commitment to the neighborhoods along University Avenue, where her grandparents once lived and where she finds solace in cultural connections and family memories.
I talked about my journey as a librarian, poet and public policy advocate, which led to my volunteer work with Frogtown Green, focusing on social and print media. Writing these articles has more than anything helped me understand the necessity of forming community connections. Connections help me contemplate deeply and widely about how we see and interact with the natural world – which necessarily means consistency in maintaining curiosity. If you are curious about Upstream Minnesota and this year’s 2025 Unsung Caretakers, you can learn more at https://tinyurl.com/4jsrtesx.
Rennie Gaither is a Frogtown Green volunteer who regularly contributes his thoughts to this paper. Frogtown Green is a resident-led and volunteer-powered environmental initiative in St Paul’s most diverse neighborhood. If you’d like to know more, browse frogtowngreen.com or call 651-757-5970.