Spring Meadow-Proven Winners Endowment Fund Tops $1 Million

Jennifer Zurko

Spring Meadow Nursery and the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) announced that the Spring Meadow-Proven Winners Endowment Fund has topped $1 million.

Dale and Liz Deppe established the Spring Meadow-Proven Winners Endowment Fund with HRI in 1999 with the belief that bright, well-trained and qualified people are essential to the green industry and that backing motivated students plays a vital role in protecting and growing the industry.

The Spring Meadow-Proven Winners Endowment Fund provides support for scholarships and horticultural research that meets industry-approved standards for value, impact and accountability. The fund seeks to support research that has definable outcomes and represents a return on investment for the green industry. 

To mark the achievement, the Redwood Circle Award was presented to Dale Deppe at the HRI reception held Saturday evening, July 10, at Cultivate ’21. The presentation also included a video honoring the Deppes, which features words of appreciation from many of the Spring Meadow-Proven Winners scholarship recipients.

One such recipient, Jacklyn Stupienski, said, “I’m so grateful to be part of an industry that inherently wants what’s best for our world and our environment. Dale and the Spring Meadow-Proven Winners scholarship embodies the kind of support and encouragement I hope to give the generation that follows me and my peers.”

Dale is deeply committed to investing in the next generation of horticulture professionals. “Our team has been blessed by this industry and the mentors who’ve helped us along the way. It’s important that we pay it forward by continuing to support students and horticultural research through the HRI endowed fund,” he said. GT