Volunteer Spotlight: Dee Ann Ipp
“The best work is done by people who do things from the heart and for a higher purpose…” Dee Ann Ipp, 2010
I am Dee Ann Ipp. I am a retired Registered Nurse specializing in Neonatal Intensive Care. I am also qualified as an appraiser of art and antiques. Because of my background in these two disciplines, I have an interest in biology and protecting and restoring environmental health. Appreciation for historic preservation is also extremely important to me.
I live on Pomander Walk, Teaneck NJ. My house is located within the floodway of the Hackensack River. I understand the nature of swamplands and the Hackensack River because of a lifetime of living with it. I have experienced two major floods of the Hackensack River since living in my house. Clean water and a healthy environment have a direct impact on my life and are really important to me.
I have been interested in science and nature since childhood. My family moved to Pomander Walk, Teaneck, from Paterson, NJ in 1960. We moved to Pomander Walk because I wanted to live in “the country.” Teaneck itself was already a suburb, but Pomander Walk was not yet developed. It looked like the “real country” back in 1960. The road was not yet paved, none of the split-level houses had been built and there were 20 acres of thick swampland teeming with birds behind my house. All of these acres have been filled in since the late 1970’s. They are now the Teaneck Swim Club and the Teaneck Leaf Transfer Station. I have observed the entire process of the loss of nature to development by direct, first hand observation. I am therefore aware that nature is whittled away foot by foot and that every bit that is preserved counts as an important step toward protecting the health of the whole natural world.
I have always loved animals, had a great variety of pets as a child and dreamed of having an animal shelter when I grew up. As an adult and committed environmentalist, it is natural that I enjoy observing the wildlife of the Hackensack River. I actively defend and help to protect their habitats from careless ruination and seek to have open spaces conserved as nature preserves.
Because of my science and nursing background, I am also fascinated with Botany – plant science. I believe that I have used my knowledge of human biology and put it to work in an effort to restore, preserve, and protect the health of the natural world. There is really no difference between human requirements for life and plant requirements for life: food, temperature, oxygen, disease, and so on.
In 2005, my grassroots group of citizen activists, called “The Coalition for the Preservation of Teaneck’s Slave and Indian Cemetery” was working hard to do every possible thing we could to stop the horrifying plan to bulldoze this cemetery and build a single family house on top of it. We wanted the Township of Teaneck to buy the property from the owner instead and have it dedicated as an historic site. The Township of Teaneck said it would buy the property if we could raise $ 100,000 from public donations towards the purchase price. They gave us only 2 weeks to raise the money. The situation became public hysteria as people were desperate to prevent what was considered an ultimate desecration, bulldozing a cemetery. None of us had any experience with fundraising. We did not know how to get the full amount in such a short amount of time. The events were well publicized by the media. In the midst of panic and frenzy, the Meadowlands Conservation Trust came to Teaneck with their proposed solution of a Deed of Conservation Easement. This is how I was introduced to the Trust and their work.
My effort to preserve the property at 662 Pomander Walk, which is now called the Teaneck Historic Burial Ground, was unique unto itself. It could not be considered a “project”; it was so much more. The motivating purpose for the public went beyond volunteerism, land conservation or historic preservation.
I feel very good about having the MCT Deed of Conservation Easement for the 662 Pomander Walk property. It has put my fears for the future of this land to rest and I am deeply grateful and appreciative to the MCT for their assistance. The Deed contains stipulations and elements of protection that are critical to the proper preservation of this environmental treasure. Preservation could be ensured for only as long as there was public interest and a grass roots fighting spirit. I will always be committed to environmental stewardship, because healing, protecting, and preserving is part of who I am as a person.
I don’t consciously think about volunteering and whether or not to do it, I just do what I feel is important in order to get a job done. Sometimes it takes so little effort for a large return. The best work is done by people who do things from the heart and for a “higher purpose” rather than people who do things for greed or because it is only a job. Many times, places of environmental sensitivity are ruined only from carelessness. Historic artifacts can be lost, destroyed, or trashed—because of ignorance and carelessness. If we know how to help or correct a wrongful situation, then we have an obligation to step forward and volunteer.
Volunteerism is based on basic religious principles that the only path to true happiness is through humility with the intention of doing service for a higher good. Man was put in this world for the purpose of making the world a better place. The great reward of volunteering is that it causes personal happiness and joy which is something money can’t buy.
My hope for the future from an environmental perspective is for stronger legal protections to protect and purchase open spaces for wildlife habitats, biodiversity and ecological wholeness. We need more national parks. We need to educate government officials and politicians about the importance of open space preservation. We need to communicate to them and the rest of the public that open space is not wasted land that needs to be “improved” in order to provide some sort of human benefit. Opens space is needed for the good and sake of all. It is needed because it serves a higher purpose. Open space protects the health of the Earth and protecting these sacred gifts is a way to honor The Creator.
By: Dee Ann Ipp
