NAPS Awarded Grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful for Creek Cleanup
The Northumberland Association for Progressive Stewardship (NAPS) has been awarded a $750 grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful in the Community Beautification category of its "30 in Thirty" grant program.
Grant funds will be used to purchase cleanup supplies and a dumpster rental for the NAPS Fall Creek Cleanup, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. NAPS anticipates that thousands of pounds of unsightly and dangerous trash will be removed from the waterways – not only for beautification, but to restore the habitat of both land and sea life.
The NAPS annual creek cleanup enlists area watermen to captain skiffs to ferry “pickers" – mostly students – to all areas of the shoreline to remove trash. Trash is boated back to the land base, usually offered by a boatyard or marina, where it is sorted for recycling or placed in a dumpster. Lunch is provided, and each participant receives a t-shirt.
Typically, more than 40 volunteers from all walks of life participate in the cleanup. The event provides a social opportunity and a learning experience for the community, as well as ridding trash from the our Chesapeake Bay estuaries. "Everyone seems to really enjoy the creek cleanups," said Mike Ahart, NAPS president. "It's a dirty job, but a fun day on the water."
To participate in this year's cleanup – whether as a captain, picker, sorter, or lunch helper, please email stewardship@napsva.org.
Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided over $178,000 to fund 230 environmental projects and programs all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity this year of its partners at Altria and Keep America Beautiful. Government, non-profit, civic and service organizations in Virginia were invited to apply for grants for $500 to $1,000 describing how they plan to tackle an environmental concern in their community regarding Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.
Click here for an article and slideshow of last year's creek cleanup.
