Invest an Hour. The Great American Cleanup

Don’t know if you heard, but we’ve got some stuff coming up.  Do you have a plan for the Great American Cleanup?

It used to officially be the Great American Cleanup, and that’s still the theme.  Given the success of last year, Keep America Beautiful has christened this year as National Days of Action!  We’re using it to mobilize some of the 8 million of us who call The Commonwealth home to spend some time during Earth Month (it deserves a month, doesn’t it?) making things a little cleaner.  You know; pick up some trash, plant a flower, paint something.

Our Event Central for this year is the Hampton Roads area.  Now, before all of you NOVA folks and mountain people get in a roar, there is a good reason for this:

 

  • Our version of the Hampton Roads area includes Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, goes as far west as Emporia and up the DelMarVa into Gloucester County.  We’re looking at around 2 million Virginians.
  • We have some great partnerships in place with the United States Military, some great public and private volunteers, and corporate partners like Pepsi, Waste Management, Troy-Bilt, and Solo.
  • Keep America Beautiful picked us.

 

Why did KAB pick us?  Because we did a fantastic job last year.  Using us, askHRgreen, and other groups, we brought together thousands of people for hundreds of projects across the state, and especially in the Chesapeake Bay areas, for clean, green, beautiful projects.  And it was an honor.

We’re in a pretty elite group.  KAB chose ten cities across the country to be incubators for this goodness, and we’re sharing the honor with big-name towns like Oakland, California, Houston, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It’s pretty special.

Our big event kicks off on Friday, April 27th with organization, projects, and a reception at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk.  Things will pick right back up again on Saturday, with almost sixty projects taking place throughout the Hampton Roads area.  We have a thousand volunteers so far, but you can still get involved.

You don’t have to be in Hampton to help, though.

Last year almost 4 million volunteers spent over 5 million hours participating in the Great American Cleanup.  Think about that:  Everyone spent about an hour.  That makes it more manageable, doesn’t it?  It’s kind of like exercise.  Just 15 minutes a day can make you more fit.  $5 per week can add up to a summer vacation.  It adds up.

Start today, and choose to recycle something.  Spend a few moments tomorrow picking up some trash.  Devote part of an hour this weekend to greening up your yard.  Spend an hour during the Great American Cleanup Keeping Virginia Beautiful.

Before you know it, you’ll have invested a year.