The community gardens have submitted a picture featuring Aaron Cantrell, Drake Cantrell, Michelle Cantrell, Aiden Cantrell, Janel Tibbets, Ed Tibbets, and Troy Turner with the Illinois-American Water Scarecrow in back. 

Illinois American Water Sponsors Facebook Photo Contest 
Lincoln Community Gardens needs your votes to win!

[July 30, 2014]  BELLELVILLE/LINCOLN - Some pictures are worth a thousand words. Now, they could be worth a total of $1,500 shared by three organizations via Illinois American Water’s “Value of Water” photo contest.  The contest begins today, July 22, 2014, on the Company’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ilamwater. 

Illinois American Water invited 12 local organizations to submit photos and thoughts to depict what water service means to their organization and community.  The photos will be posted to Illinois American Water’s Facebook page here – http://bit.ly/1nanM8w.  

The photo contest also aims to raise awareness about the role water service plays in daily lives, economic growth and fire protection. 

The public can participate by voting for their favorite “Value of Water” photo beginning July 22, 2014 through August 20, 2014.  The three photos with the most votes will earn their organization $750 (first place), $500 (second place) and $250 (third place).  The winners will be announced soon after the contest closes.  

In the Lincoln Water district the Lincoln Community Gardens has been chosen as a participant.

The community gardens have submitted a picture featuring Aaron Cantrell, Drake Cantrell, Michelle Cantrell, Aiden Cantrell, Janel Tibbets, Ed Tibbets, and Troy Turner with the Illinois-American Water Scarecrow in back. 

The text they have written to go with their photo is as follows: 

Water is a vital part of Lincoln Community Gardens (LCG). Knowing that we can count on support from Illinois-American Water helps provide the opportunity for local gardeners to experience new relationships and the healthy benefits of exercise and great tasting, fresh produce. LCG is impacting lives by bringing people together, putting smiles on the faces of those that wouldn’t be able to garden otherwise by building handicap accessible gardening options and offering the opportunity for outreach in a suppressed neighborhood.  

In the photo, standing in a strawberry patch, are a few members of “His Hands Outreach” with the Illinois-American Water Scarecrow built by the Lincoln Community High School Horticulture and Agriculture class students. “His Hands Outreach” is working hard to at one of the LCG to impact one of the neighborhoods in the Lincoln community. The scarecrow represents the importance of water service for LCG. His body is a recycled trash can that becomes a rain barrel, his arms are coil hoses, he has clay pots for legs and his head is an old sprinkling can. He boasts “Water Service is a Good Value” on a sign staked in the ground next to him. 

LCG doesn’t measure the “value” of water in dollars and cents, we measure it in the lives we impact. Thank you Illinois –American Water!!

You can vote for Lincoln by going to http://bit.ly/1nanM8w   and “Liking” the Illinois American Water Facebook page and then clicking on the Lincoln Community Gardens photo in the contest tab. 

[Text received; KAREN COTTON, ILLINOIS AMERICAN WATER and KATHY VINYARD, LINCOLN COMMUNITY GARDENS]

About Illinois American Water
Illinois American Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the 
state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 1.2 million people. American Water also 
operates a customer service center in Alton and a quality control and research laboratory in Belleville. Founded in 1886, American Water 
is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs more 
than 6.600 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to approximately 14 million people in 
more than 40 states, as well as parts of Canada. More information can be found by visiting www.amwater.com .