Great Virginia Cleanup

March 20 2023

First Day of Spring AND The Great Virginia Greenup

Beckey Watson Uncategorized cleanup, Dominion Energy, graffiti, Great Virginia Cleanup, Great Virginia Greenup, invasive species, Spring, trails

March 20^th marks the first day of spring this year, so let’s shake off the indoor doldrums and head outside!

The date also coincides with the start of Keep America Beautiful’s annual nationwide campaign, the Great American Cleanup. As a certified affiliate, we are participating with our efforts for the Great Virginia Greenup from the first day of spring to the first day of summer.

This event focuses on improving the places where we live, work, and play. From March 20th to June 21st, we’ll be organizing and encouraging community improvement projects throughout the state. You can clean-up or green-up your community on your own, with your family, friends, or groups.

Here are some of the activities that you could do to improve the natural and scenic environment near you:

Pick up litter from roadsides, neighborhoods, beaches, waterways, and parks to support cleaner communities;
Recycle old or unwanted items rounded up from homes and yards;
Plant trees, flowers, and community gardens to add beauty and provide for pollinators and wildlife;
Restore nature trails, parks, and playgrounds to encourage outdoor activity; remove invasive plants to allow native plants to fill in;
Rejuvenate business districts by painting over graffiti, clearing vacant lots, and trimming overgrown landscaping to boost economic development;
Check our events calendar for cleanup and other events. Or check out one of our local state Affiliates to see if you can join in an event near you;
See this tip sheet on what to expect at a group cleanup event.

Once you’ve gone out there and made your impact, let us know what you’ve accomplished! Please report your cleanup or other event on this short form. We’ll enter your name in drawings that will be held throughout the Great Virginia Greenup!

We all have a part to play in making sure our communities are clean and beautiful. The path to a cleaner, greener future starts with you.

Thank you to our 2023 Great Virginia Greenup sponsors:

January 9 2023

It’s Our 70th Anniversary

Beckey Watson Uncategorized Anniversary, Great American Cleanup, Great Virginia Cleanup, Green Grants, Jennifer Lawson, Keep America Beautiful, Membership, Virginia Green Travel Alliance

Our staff, Board members, and partners are especially excited to greet 2023 because it’s going to be a special year for Keep Virginia Beautiful. We’re celebrating our 70^th Anniversary! It will be a year full of old and new programs, and plenty of looking back at memories, milestones, and events. (And just maybe some old black & white photographs too.)

Our organization began as the Virginia Anti-Litterbug Council in 1953 to address the “menacing litter problem” on our highways. Over the years we’ve partnered with the Department of Highways (now known as VDOT), the Department of Conservation, governors, the Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries (now the Department of Wildlife Resources), and others — as well as scores of volunteers! — to clean up litter in the landscape. We are recognized as an Affiliate of the nationwide program Keep America Beautiful, and we have a network of local Virginia Affiliates that are making substantial positive impacts in the communities they serve.

But there is still much to be done, and we have a year that will be packed with activities and events to continue our “Anti-Litterbug” efforts!

One of our favorite programs, Green Grants, will kick off in the spring. Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $282,000 for 385 programs and projects throughout the state. Groups of all types and sizes have been awarded $500, $750, or $1,000 to implement their plans to improve our nature and scenic environment through Community Beautification, Recycling, Litter Prevention, and Cigarette Litter Prevention. Online grant applications will be available in April, and grant award announcements will be made one each day during June. We’re hoping to have an additional Green Grant funding round in the fall – stay tuned for more details!

The Great American Cleanup is set to run March 20 – June 21, 2023, with Virginia doing its part throughout that time frame. We’ll be cleaning up with our affiliates around the state, and will give away cleanup kits to get you safely out there picking up litter too wherever you live, work, or play.

We are thrilled to partner with the Virginia Green Travel Alliance to co-host their 10th annual conference from March 21-22, 2023 in Virginia Beach. The keynote speaker is Jennifer Lawson, CEO of Keep America Beautiful! We will connect professionals, offer engaging and informative workshops, and celebrate the work of both organizations and allied partners! Learn more about the conference here.

We’re also excited to announce our “Make Beautiful Your Business” Membership Program! Beautiful is our business and now it can be yours too! This new program engages like-minded businesses and individuals to help preserve the beauty of our Commonwealth. Educational, volunteer, and advocacy opportunities are included. Join anytime and be one of our first 70 Founding Members for added benefits!

This is just the start of some of the ways we’ll be celebrating our 70 years; more details will be released as the year progresses. But we couldn’t do any of it without our partners, supporters, and volunteers! Thank you for caring about the natural and scenic environment of Virginia, we’re looking forward to sharing this year with you!

March 21 2022

Spring Has Sprung

Beckey Watson Uncategorized Cleanup Kits, D3G, Great American Cleanup, Great Virginia Cleanup, litter, Pepsi, Spring, state parks, Wine Trails

Whether you follow the Astronomical seasons, based on the position of Earth in relation to the sun, or the meteorological seasons, based on the annual temperature cycle, March 20th marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere for 2022. Hooray!

Spring is a time for many things for those of us who live in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It’s time to resume outdoor dining at your favorite local restaurants, kids get a break from school, and grownups can hit the wine trails. Virginia State Parks open up for camping – check out their new online reservation system. And if you’d like a one-day free parking pass good at any State Park, we can make that happen (while supplies last)!

And it also is time for our national affiliate, Keep America Beautiful’s annual Great American Cleanup! There is no shortage of litter in the landscape, and it’s time we got back out there with litter grabbers in hand. Speaking of cleanup tools, Keep America Beautiful is offering free litter cleanup kits, one per person, while supplies last.

Here in Virginia, we’re doing our part of the nationwide cleanup effort by kicking off our own Great Virginia Greenup! From March 20th to June 21st, we’ll be organizing and encouraging community improvement projects throughout the state.

Projects can include activities such as:

– Picking up litter from roadsides, neighborhoods, beaches, waterways, and parks
– Recycling old or unwanted items rounded up from homes and yards
– Planting trees, flowers and, community gardens to strengthen green infrastructure
– Restoring nature trails, parks, and playgrounds to encourage outdoor activity
– Rejuvenating business districts to boost economic development

Participating is FREE, EASY, and REWARDING!

You can sign up here (free!) for the April 2nd litter cleanup at the Diamond, 3001 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. in Richmond. Join us and Nutzy as we clean up the neighborhood to get ready for the baseball season!

We all have a part to play in making sure our communities are clean and beautiful. The path to a cleaner, greener future starts with you.

Thank you to our 2022 Great Virginia Greenup sponsors: