D&R Greenway Land Trust has announced that its Princeton campus will become a Conservation Campus. The YWCA Princeton Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) will be its first campus partner by moving into 2 Preservation Place.

“The new strategic alliance between the two nonprofit groups celebrates the healing value that nature brings to our lives,” says D&R Greenway President and CEO Linda Mead. “D&R Greenway Land Trust has been working for more than 25 years to preserve open space and has recognized the important connection between the outdoors and health. The YWCA Princeton BCRC will be able to offer a welcoming and nurturing home setting for women and families, establishing a direct connection between nature and well-being.”

The campus is surrounded by more than 60 acres of open space. “In order to serve more survivors and to expand the scope of offerings, we are working with D&R Greenway to lease the beautiful home that sits along Rosedale Road, within walking distance from our campus,” says YWCA Princeton CEO Judy Hutton. “We are delighted to be on the property of an organization that finds value and beauty in open space and greenery, because a healthy environment is so beneficial to good health. Thanks to extraordinary donors, BCRC will be able to keep a presence at 59 Paul Robeson Place and successfully expand and grow into this second home,” adds Hutton.

The three campus houses, once part of the Robert Wood Johnson Estate that D&R Greenway and partners preserved in 2001, were originally sold to the Hun School of Princeton to help fund the purchase of Greenway Meadows. The Johnson Education Center, a model of adaptive reuse of a circa 1900 barn, opened on the campus in 2006.

When the Hun School decided to move teachers back to its own campus and sell the three houses, D&R Greenway bought back all three houses, thanks to the Sands Foundation. “The new conservation campus will include nonprofit groups that can benefit from this shared resource,” says Mead. “This destination campus will benefit our local community and beyond, and will stay relevant no matter what the future brings.”

“The acquisition of the three houses gives the D&R Greenway the opportunity to examine its campus and explore ways to further connect people with the land as it continues to pursue its essential mission of preserving open space for all,” says Betsy Sands, co-chair of the D&R Greenway Campus Master Plan Committee. “Partnering with effective organizations like the YWCA Princeton makes us think about how we are conserving and why it matters, inspiring us all to get outside and connect with nature to preserve our spirit, which is perhaps the most important of all.”