dimentia

A special focus of our Green Grants this year is to support diverse groups and underserved populations by adding five additional grant awards, for a total of thirty-five awards, with one announcement being made each day in the month of June. Today, KVB recognizes two organizations that are working to improve the lives of the communities they serve.

The first award goes to Primeplus Senior Center, which helps seniors and disabled residents through issues such as food shortages, transportation, exercise, socialization, and education, with payments based on a sliding scale for low-income participants.

Dementia in any form is scary, for both the person with dementia and the family caregivers. Research from Virginia Cooperative Extension suggests gardening as a great activity to help maintain physical and emotional well-being. With a $1,000 grant provided by Keep Virginia Beautiful’s Green Grants, Primeplus will create a Therapeutic Walking Garden that uses the gentle stimulation of the five senses to enhance feelings of comfort and maximize a person’s potential to focus, improving communication and memory. They will purchase hanging baskets, elevated containers boxes, garden carts, among other things, and ADA approved mulch that will make it easier for seniors in walkers and wheelchairs to navigate the garden.

The second Green Grant award goes to RVA Rapid Transit, a nonprofit that focuses on creating reliable and far-reaching public transit throughout Richmond. RVA Rapid Transit reports that 74% of GRTC riders are people of color and 79% of GRTC riders have household incomes under $49,999.

RVA Rapid Transit grant application requested support for their Better Bus Stop Program, which will provide bus stops with additional benches, trash cans and recycling bins. They will organize volunteer groups to “adopt-a-stop” to help keep them clean by picking up trash at the stop at least once per month. The $500 grant award will also be used to purchase supplies for those cleanup efforts. This summer focus will be on bus stops on Broad Street in Short Pump, bus stops around White Oak Village, and bus stops in East End Richmond.

Thank you to these two groups for the services they provide, we look forward to the results of your programs! Congratulations!

Every year, 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.  Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $254,500 for 320 different environmental programs and projects all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity of their partnership with Altria, as well as additional support from Coca-Cola, WestRock and Keep America Beautiful.