Awards, Ratings & Rankings

WFTV Ch. 9 Names Shanta Barton-Stubbs as Central Florida's 2016 Cox Conserves Hero

Program donates $20,000 to environmental nonprofits in Central Florida
Nov 8, 2016 12:00 PM ET

November 8, 2016 /3BL Media/ - WFTV 9 Family Connection and The Trust for Public Land named Shanta Barton-Stubbs as Central Florida’s 2016 Cox Conserves Hero. The program honors volunteers who are creating, preserving or enhancing outdoor spaces.   

Barton-Stubbs, an Orange County resident, is connecting students with gardening and healthy living. Through the New Image Youth Center, students created a community garden where they grow and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables. The program also includes cooking and exercise classes to encourage healthy, active lifestyles. Her nonprofit of choice, New Image Youth Center, will receive $10,000 on her behalf.

The two finalists each will each receive $5,000 for their nonprofits of choice. Jeri Baldwin selected Crones Cradle Conserve Foundation as her nonprofit of choice; Eric Gardze chose Merritt Island Wildlife Association.

The national Cox Conserves Heroes program was created in 2008 through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land and Cox Enterprises, the parent company of WFTV Channel 9. The partnership stems from Cox Enterprises’ national Cox Conserves sustainability program that focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, conserving water and inspiring eco-friendly behavior.

Chuck O’Neal was selected as Central Florida’s 2015 Cox Conserves Hero.

Cox Conserves Heroes also takes place in Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Washington and Virginia.

For more information, visit CoxConservesHeroes.com or Facebook.

Social Media: #CoxConservesHeroes and #CoxConservesHero

Media Contacts:

About WFTV Channel 9:
Part of Cox Media Group, WFTV Channel 9 is an ABC affiliate serving Central Florida. Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America’s leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings. The company’s operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 60 radio stations, six daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 31 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million newspaper readers, and more than 14 million radio listeners. For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.

About The Trust for Public Land:
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come.  Millions of people live within a one-half mile walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year.  To support The Trust for Public Land and share why nature matters to you, visit http://www.tpl.org.

About Cox Conserves:
Launched in 2007 by Chairman Jim Kennedy, Cox Conserves is Cox Enterprises' national sustainability program. Cox Conserves focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, as well as conserving water. The program engages each of the company's major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Cox Automotive and Cox Media Group) and encourages Cox Enterprises' 60,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.