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Aerial view of the Chesapeake Beach shoreline at Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Kiptopeke State Park Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Aerial view of the Chesapeake Beach shoreline at Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore of VirginiaKiptopeke State Park is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Litter Prevention category as part of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community.  Grants must focus on one of the following priorities:   Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.Wooden walkway leading to the beach at Kiptopeke State Park

Kiptopeke State Park, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, offers recreational access to Chesapeake Bay.  It has accessible trails, beach wheelchairs, free educational programs, and the opportunity to explore unique migratory bird habitats along the Atlantic flyway.

Funds provided by the Green Grant award will be used to purchase cleanup equipment and supplies to combat marine debris along the 5.1 miles of beach coastline at the park, as well as add new signage about litter and marine debris in the Chesapeake Bay. They will be developing an interactive educational display located at the South Beach entrance to demonstrate how long certain litter will last on land and in the bay.

According to the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, “As much as 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources such as plastic bags and food containers. Abandoned or derelict fishing gear, vessels, and other water-based sources also significantly contribute to the problem.”   Marine debris can include balloons, plastic bags, food and drink containers, lost crab pots, oyster bags and cages, fishing line and nets, and any other kind of persistent solid material that is intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment.

Congratulations Kiptopeke State Park, and thank you for taking care of your portion of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline!

 

 

Drawing of a garden path with beehives

Piedmont Arts Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Drawing of a garden path with beehives Piedmont Arts is all abuzz with a $1,000 Green Grant for their Community Beautification plans, as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Located in the heart of Martinsville’s Arts and Cultural District in Southwest Virginia, Piedmont Arts is an award-winning art museum that curates thought-provoking exhibitions by international, national and regional artists. The museum also offers performing arts, from concerts to plays to children’s performances, and art classes for all ages. Educational programming is offered for students of all ages, including in gallery classes as well as organizing events for in-school outreach. Piedmont Arts is the hub for arts of all varieties and arts education in Martinsville and Henry County.

Funds provided by the Green Grants award will be used to purchase bee hives, beekeeping supplies, and bees for the Art Garden and attached pollinator garden trail.

The beekeeping program will take place along the pollinator path, which is located on an area of unused land that runs from the museum’s parking lot to the Gravely-Lester Art Garden. The pathway is made of ADA-compliant crush-and-run gravel to create an accessible and beautiful space that will function as a trail and community garden. Martinsville is a Bee City, meaning the city is dedicated to the protection and stewardship of native pollinators.  The pathway will be lined with garden plots and raised beds that can be adopted by the community that will be filled with native and noninvasive pollinator plants.

The garden will have a compost station and educational signage posted throughout so that even people who do not want to plant and maintain a garden can still learn from the pollinator.  Piedmont Arts is working to create opportunities for local artists to paint signage, birdhouses, and other structures so the garden path will be filled with compelling and beautiful artwork.

The bees and butterflies will thank you by pollinating the flowers and gardens that you’re planting!

Logo for the City of Newport News

City of Newport News Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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The City of Newport News is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant for Cigarette Litter Prevention as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program!

Logo for the City of Newport NewsThe City of Newport News is located where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The goal of the City of Newport News is to properly dispose of cigarette butts in their motels, so the cigarette litter does not get into their waterways.  Because all storm water drains lead to a body of water in the City of Newport News, when cigarette butts are littered on the ground, in parking lots, or tossed in bushes, the are swept away by rainwater into the storm drains, and into surrounding waterways.

The City of Newport News is home to eleven motels where the doors to the rooms face outside.  Most of the hotels have designated smoking rooms. By offering those motels wall-mounted cigarette receptacles for their smoking room, guests would be encouraged to smoke outside the hotel room and to properly dispose of their cigarette butts in the receptacles instead of littering them.

Funds provided by the Green Grant program will be used to purchase wall-mounted cigarette butt receptacles.  Participating hotel management will be asked to measure the amount of cigarette butts they have littered before and after the installation of the receptacles.  They expectation is that they will  have less cigarette butt litter on the ground, parking lots, and landscaping.

With cigarette litter being the Number One most littered item in the state, we applaud the City of Newport News for working to reduce cigarette butt litter and prevent it from traveling to our beautiful James River and Chesapeake Bay.

Group of people with litter grabbers and trash bags after doing a litter cleanup

Lynnhaven River NOW Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Group of people with litter grabbers and trash bags after doing a litter cleanupLynnhaven River NOW is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Litter Prevention category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community. Grants must focus on one of the following priorities: Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

Lynnhaven River NOW, headquartered in Virginia Beach, was established in 2002 with the mission of restoring and protecting their waterways and natural areas. Their programs focus on community awareness and engagement, as well as restoration and advocacy. They have 12,000 members, including families, businesses, faith communities and over 100 schools.   Their goal is clean and healthy Virginia Beach waterways and their objectives are to identify and reduce sources of contamination in the waterways; reduce nutrients, sediments and chemicals running off of lawns, parking lots, roadways, farmland and out of our septic systems; to educate and engage the community and partner organizations in restoring and protecting our waterways and natural areas; and to restore lost habitats such as oyster reefs, salt marshes, native plants, forests and other buffers that help to filter polluted runoff and protect our waterways and their marine life.

Lynnhaven River NOW logoVolunteers and members of Lynnhaven River NOW regularly conduct cleanups throughout the city. In 2022, volunteers collected 10,000 pounds of debris from waterways, wetlands, and natural areas.  They typically do between 30 and 40 cleanup events each year!

Funds provided by the Green Grants program will be used to purchase cleanup tool, such as wheelbarrows, litter grabbers, children’s litter grabbers, and safety vests to replace broken equipment and provide the additional equipment.  Volunteers need the equipment to do the work safely and efficiently.

Our judges agreed, and their proposal was funded for a 2023 Green Grant!  Thank you, Lynnhaven River NOW, for the work you’re doing!

Purple meadow flowers with butterfly

City of Salem Awarded $1,000 Green Grant for Community Beautification

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Purple meadow flowers with butterflyThe City of Salem is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Community Beautification category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Located in the Roanoke Valley along the Allegheny/Blue Ridge mountains, the City of Salem, is comprised of 15 square miles and has a population of about 25,000 residents. The City’s Landscape Management Division has a horticulturist at its helm with full and part-time employees tasked with urban forestry, landscaping of municipal parks, schools, and greenways.

In anLarge grass area on a hill in Longwood Park, City of Salem, VA effort to increase the acreage of naturalized areas for pollinators on public land, the City will convert existing turf grass to a working native prairie. They will start with a pilot plot of about half of an acre at Longwood Park, one of Salem’s largest parks.  They will plant native seed/species to (re)introduced into that area. This will serve to benefit future pollinators by inviting a diversity of species and create an attractive area in the park for the public to enjoy.  It will also reduce the need for mowing the area, which will decrease the amount of emissions put into the atmosphere.

Funds provided by the Green Grant will be used to remove current grass, prepare the ground, purchase seeds and plant by hydroseeding.  Information and educational signs will be posted to enlighten the public about the value of having a wildflower area in the park.  The signage will also help visitors understand the slow, natural process and to exercise patience.

Prairies take some time to produce the look that most people associate with a beautiful, naturalized, flowering meadow. Often, people mistake these fledgling endeavors as eyesores or weedy, unkept messes, not understanding that the native plants need a season or two to establish a hearty root system before flowering.  But by year two or three, the seeds and plants will have matured enough to begin to “wow” patrons with their flowers and provide a great food source for pollinators.

Thank you Salem, for introducing the sustainable practice of converting large areas of turf grass into a wonderland of blossoms.  The bees, butterflies, and visitors are sure to love it!

 

Scott's Addition logo with urban background

The Greater Scotts Addition Association Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Scott's Addition logo with urban backgroundThe Greater Scotts Addition Association is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Litter Prevention Category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community. Grants must focus on one of the following priorities: Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

Mural of Scott's Addition 1901The Greater Scotts Addition Association is an organization that advocates for their historic and vibrant City of Richmond neighborhood.  They provide opportunities for businesses, property owners and residents of the neighborhood and surrounding area to address community issues, protect the integrity of our neighborhood’s historic designation, support the neighborhood’s economy, and enhance the vitality and liability of the community.

Funds provided through the Green Grants program will be used to purchase and install a Dog Waste System Dispensers for the West Broad Street Green Expansion Project. If not disposed of properly, pet waste flows directly into nearby streams and creeks without being treated at wastewater treatment facilities. Pet waste can contain bacteria that threaten the health of animals and people.  Giving pet owners access to convenient stations with dog waste disposal bags makes it more likely that visitors to the area will properly dispose of pet waste.  The Associate will also purchase litter cleanup tools, such as litter grabbers, to assist volunteers with keeping the West Broad Street Green Project area clean.

The West Broad Street Green Project (Pollinator Park) has made Scott’s Addition more livable by aligning with several goals to provide increased public park space and pedestrian connectivity surrounding an active GRTC BRT stop, and support communities in the neighborhoods adjacent to and nearby the park. They are looking to expand the park further reduce environmental stressors such as the heat island effect, traffic noise, and  storm water runoff.

What a wonderful Green Project, we wish you much success!

Soldier shooting during target practice

Attention! Fort Barfoot Awarded $1,000 Green Grant for Recycling

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Soldier shooting during target practiceThe Department of Military Affairs at Fort Barfoot, near Blackstone, is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Recycling Category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

The Virginia National Guard is a unique dual-status force with a federal mission to provide a combat reserve for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force to fight our nation’s wars and a state mission to provide a response force that answers the call of the Governor to defend the commonwealth. Currently, Fort Barfoot uses plastic targets on their ranges during target practice. The plastic is not recyclable and creates a waste problem.

With funds provided by the Recycling Green Grant award will test a plant/hemp-based plastic target. Hemp is a sustainable agricultural crop that requires minimal resources to grow and can have a fibrous structure that acts as a reinforcement for materials. If the plant/hemp-based plastic targets are successful after testing, it will solve the plastic target waste problem, not only here in Virginia, but at other training facilities across the country.

A testing report will be provided to Keep Virginia Beautiful at the end of the trial use of the plant/hemp-based target. Records will be kept to track the weight and number of regular plastic targets that would have been sent to the landfill.

Our appreciation goes out to the soldiers who train at Fort Barfoot for their service and their concern about plastic waste!

Lake Anna Business Partnership Logo

Lake Anna Business Partnership Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Lake Anna Business Partnership LogoLake Anna Business Partnership is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Litter Prevention Category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community. Grants must focus on one of the following priorities: Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

Lake Anna Business Partnership works with local businesses and professionals to promote Lake Anna and the surrounding Areas. The mission of Lake Anna Business Partnership is to preserve the beauty and safety of the Lake Anna region for current residents and future generations. They work through member volunteers, an elected board of directors and functional committees to support responsible growth around the lake through communication, government liaison, events Sunset at Lake Annaand cooperation with other organizations supporting the lake.

The focus of Lake Anna Business Partnership’s program is to identify high traffic, main road areas with an abundance of litter on other roads. Litter on their local public highways has increased significantly with the steep increase in rental properties and new construction.  Their Adopt-a-Highway Program has grown, 84 volunteers having spent 400 hours of service.  New leaders are adopting roads.

Funds awarded by the Green Grants program will be used to purchase supplies to keep volunteers safe when picking up litter on busy roads.  The will purchase sport-orange visors hats to give them added visibility along with the orange vests they now use, and heavy duty trash grabbers that are high quality to handle the task of repeated use.

Thank you Lake Anna Business Partnership, for caring about the natural and scenic environment of Virginia!

Bay School Community Arts, brick building with awning.

Bay School Community Arts Center Awarded $1,000 Green Grant

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Bay School Community Arts, brick building with awning.Bay School Community Arts Center is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Beautification Category as part of our 13th Annual Green Grants Program.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community.  Grants must focus on one of the following priorities:   Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

The Bay School Community Arts Center was founded in 1997 to provide art classes to residents and community groups.  The current building, purchased in 2001, now includes a gallery for local artists.  They offer over 100 art classes in a variety of media annually, free summer art camps and after school programs for children, 12 community outreach programs, artisan markets, and ten special gallery exhibitions each year.

Photograph of narrow brick alleyFunds provided by this grant will go towards their Art in the Alley program. This project was put together by a group of private citizens who saw a need and an opportunity. They came to the Bay School for coordination of the art aspect and to be the supporting institution for the project.  They plan to purchase and install a rail kit hanging system and hardware that can be reconfigured to accommodate different sized artwork.  They will work with local artists to create works specifically for this space.

There will be a Grand Opening of Art in the Alley when the rail system is installed and art work is completed.  Many people will walk through the alley to enjoy the artwork on weekdays, Saturdays, and special market days.

Thank you Bay School Community Arts Center for creating a Community Beautification project that many will enjoy!

Work of Life Program Awarded $1,000 for Recycling

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Logo for Work of Life at John Handley High SchoolWork of Life at Handley High School is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Recycling category as part of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s 13th Annual Green Grants Program!

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address an environmental concern in their community.  Grants must focus on one of the following priorities:   Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

Located in Winchester, Virginia in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, the Work of Life program is a group of senior students with disabilities who are preparing for working in the community, including Autism, Intellectual disability, and speech and language disabilities.  Students learn about social/emotional skills, vocational work, and daily living skills. They perform work within the school that includes filling plasticware containers for lunch, help at a clothes closet, and sell coffee and snacks. All of the students work in the public sector as well.

Funds provided by this grant award will be used to purchase ten 23-gallon recycling bins with lids, recycling signs, and an industrial digital scale to measure the impact of their recycling program. Each week, students in the Work of Life program will collect recyclable items from the classrooms, such as plastic bottles, paper products, and cardboard boxes.

This is a wonderful opportunity to educate students about the value of recycling!  Thank you Handley High School for the work you’re doing!

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