COMMUNITIES OF THE BLACKSTONE VALLEY SCHEDULED TO TAKE PART IN
THE GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP
Nationwide
community improvement program preserves the beauty of our local
environment
Blackstone Valley, R.I., (March
31, 2008) - Communities throughout the Blackstone Valley will
join forces to participate in the Great American Cleanup during
April and May. Volunteers from various community organizations
and environmental groups around the Blackstone Valley of Rhode
Island will hold litter cleanups, recycling events and
beautification events. Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful, an
environmental initiative of the Blackstone Valley Tourism
Council, is aiding in event coordination and providing supplies
such as bags, gloves, banners and more to volunteers.
Held nationally from March 1 to
May 31, the Great American Cleanup encourages local communities
to improve their communities and our overall environment.
“We are taking a hands-on
approach to sustainability by conducting cleanups, electronics
recycling drives and a Shred-It event, tree and flower
plantings, educational workshops and other community improvement
activities,” said Robert Billington, Ed.D., president of the
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council. “We hope that you can join us
in our efforts to make our community an even better place to
live, work and play.”
Approximately 15 events will be
held:
LITTER CLEANUP EVENTS
Saturday, April 19
Burrillville – The Burrillville
Lions Club and the Town of Burrillville are hosting a town-wide
litter cleanup. Volunteers will meet at the Burrillville Public
Works Garage at 9 a.m.
Cumberland – The Friends of the
Ballou Cemetery are hosting a litter cleanup of the Ballou
Cemetery. Volunteers will meet at 8am at the cemetery on Elder
Ballou Meeting House Rd.
Lincoln – The Blackstone River
Watershed Council / Friends of the Blackstone will be cleaning
up along the Blackstone River. Volunteers will meet at the
Manville Dam at 8 a.m.
Smithfield – The Smithfield
Conservation Commission will host a litter cleanup in various
areas of the town. Volunteers will meet at the Leo Bouchard
Conservation Center behind the police station.
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Saturday, April 26
Central Falls – The City of
Central Falls Parks & Recreation Department, Channel One/Ralph
J. Holden Community Center will host a litter clean up of Jenks
Park. Volunteers will meet at the park at 9 a.m.
Pawtucket – Pawtucket Citizens
Development Corporation and the City of Pawtucket will host a
litter clean up of the Barton Street neighborhood. Volunteers
will meet at the Barton Street Community Garden on the corner of
Broad St. and Nickerson St.
RECYCLING & EDUCATION EVENTS
Electronics Recycling Drive –
Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful has partnered with REI in
Cranston to hold a collection on April 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
in the REI parking lot during their members-only garage sale.
People who drop off an item to recycle will receive a 15% coupon
to use on one full priced item at REI while supplies last, some
restrictions apply.
Electronics Recycling Drive for
the Town of Lincoln – Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful will hold
a e-waste collection with the Town of Lincoln on April 19 from 9
a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Works Garage.
Smithfield Shred-It Event – The
Town of Smithfield will offer free shredding of personal
documents from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Smithfield Public Works
Garage.
Smithfield Tree Day &
Environmental Education Fair – Join the Conservation Commission
on May 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Deerfield Park where town
residents can pick up free evergreen seedlings, purchase
flowering bushes to plant and view displays from local
conservation and “green” issue groups.
Fifth Annual Blackstone Valley
Tire Round-Up – Join Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful and the
Town of Smithfield on May 17 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and drop off
your un-rimmed tires for free and rimmed tires for a small fee.
Other events that are closed to
the public: Dr. Earl F. Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls
will be cleaning up litter around the city as part of their
service learning project, “Pick Up Central Falls: Don’t Talk
Trash, Recycle It.” Blackstone Academy Charter School in
Pawtucket will celebrate Earth Day be picking up litter around
the school. NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley will be
cleaning up Woonsocket with their youth group and other area
organizations.
Log on to
www.keepblackstonevalleybeautiful.com for complete details on
the events listed. If you are interested in volunteering or have
other questions, contact Kristin Zawistowski at (401) 724-2200
or kbvb@tourblackstone.com.
Sponsors of the Great American
Cleanup of the Blackstone Valley are Blackstone Valley Tourism
Council & Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful, Dan’s Management, a
Dunkin Donuts/Baskin-Robbins franchisee, Firestone Complete Auto
Care in Pawtucket and Bill’s Auto Parts. Partners are listed in
the individual event listings.
In the 2007 Great American
Cleanup of the Blackstone Valley, 1,200 volunteers donated 3,300
volunteer hours, collecting 120 tons of trash along 85 miles of
roads, river, shoreline, hiking and biking trails and 350 acres
of public land, wetlands and parks. Over 700 trees and 500
flowers were planted.
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America’s leading companies are
dedicated to supporting and sponsoring the 2008 Great American
Cleanup, and are providing in-kind donations and grants to aid
in community improvement events. The national sponsors are:
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Firestone Complete Auto Care™
and Tires Plus™, GLAD ForceFlex® Trash Bags from The Glad
Products Company, Pepsi-Cola Company, Sam's Club®, The Scotts
Miracle-Gro Company, Sparkle® Paper Towels from Georgia-Pacific,
Sprint Foundation, Troy-Bilt®, Waste Management, Inc., and the
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Educational Partners: ReCellular and
the Rubber Manufacturers Association.
Keep America Beautiful's Great
American Cleanup, the nation's largest community improvement
program, takes place annually from March 1 through May 31,
involving an estimated 2.8 million volunteers and attendees. The
hardworking volunteers donated more than 7.7 million hours in
2007 to clean, beautify and improve more than 17,000 communities
during more than 30,000 events in all 50 states and beyond.
Activities included beautifying parks and recreation areas,
cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling
collections, picking up litter, planting trees and flowers, and
conducting educational programs and litter-free events.
Volunteers collected 200 million pounds of litter and debris;
planted 4.6 million trees, flowers and bulbs; cleaned 178,000
miles or roads, streets and highways; and diverted more than
70.6 million plastic (PET) bottles and more than 2.2 million
scrap tires from the waste stream.
About the Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council
Established in 1985, the
agency’s mission is to create positive change with regard to
community values by developing and promoting coordinated,
responsible and sustainable tourism in Rhode Island’s Blackstone
Valley communities. To plan and collaborate with intrastate,
state, regional, national and international organizations to
sustain and enhance the character of our destination, and to
develop the public and private natural, historic, cultural,
ethnic, industrial, recreational, educational, special events,
artistic and commercial resources in Pawtucket, Central Falls,
Cumberland, Lincoln, Woonsocket, Smithfield, North Smithfield,
Burrillville and Glocester.
About Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful
Keep Blackstone Valley
Beautiful serves as the environmental education and awareness
program of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.
Representatives from the cities and towns and the national Keep
America Beautiful organization are working with the Blackstone
Valley Tourism Council on their affiliation. Keep Blackstone
Valley Beautiful is one of over 550 Keep America Beautiful
Affiliates nationwide. The program coordinator position is
sponsored by AmeriCorps*VISTA.
About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is a
national nonprofit public education organization dedicated since
1953 to engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for
improving their local community environments. For half a
century, Keep America Beautiful has been the nation’s leading
community improvement organization successfully implementing an
effective, systematic strategy for reducing waste, preventing
litter and beautifying communities nationwide.
For more information, log onto
www.keepblackstonevalleybeautiful.com,
www.tourblackstone.com
or
www.blackstonevalleytourismcouncil.org.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: We are also
requesting news and photo coverage of the Great American Cleanup
supply distribution on Wednesday, April 9 at 3:30 p.m.
Distribution will be at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center,
175 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI.
Please contact Kristin
Zawistowski at 401-724-2200 or
kbvb@tourblackstone.com
to make arrangements and for details on the organizations
involved in the Great American Cleanup and supply distribution.
Program Information
