OMG the GAC!

We knew that this was a very successful day, but seeing the totals and all of the beautiful pictures really took our breath away.

We worked with our friends at askHRgreen to organize over 1,000 volunteers for an early Mother’s Day gift to Mother Earth on May 3rd and 4th in a Great American Cleanup in and around Hampton Roads. We had young people, older folks, local businesses, the military, local police officers, and more to spend two days across 13 municipalities for almost 50 events.

And it wasn’t just picking up litter.

Our friends and volunteers planted and pruned trees, planted rain gardens, spruced up playgrounds and parks, painted trash cans, and more. True – they did gather a ton of litter…

More like 15 TONS!

We found litter along roadways, in waterways, and even scattered around the ground next to trash cans where the litter is supposed to go. Go figure.

Not everything ended up going to the dump. askHRgreen told us,

“Volunteers set aside flattened metal containers, furniture fragments and anything that resembled a nose, eye, or mouth, for use by Sam Hundley, a local scrap artist. Hundley will take this former trash and transform it into an art piece to commemorate this year’s regional cleanup successes. A “reveal” of the art work will be announced later this year, with plans for it to be exhibited at locations all across Hampton Roads.”

And, of course, as much as possible went to be recycled.

Thank you to ALL of our friends and volunteers, and please enjoy the gallery below!