Environment CSP:
Community Connection Initiative
CHAIRMAN
Sue Morrow
sjmorrow7@gmail.com
Affiliates
A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country in which every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live.
GFWC Pennsylvania will support the Community Connection Initiative: Sparkling Seeds, Brilliant Butterflies, Glamorous Gardens
COMMUNITY GARDENS ARE MORE THAN BEAUTIFUL, THEY ENRICH OUR WORLD
- Organize an event to support National Gardening Day (April 14) or combine it with Earth Day (April 22) activities. Promote April as National Garden Month.
- Sponsor a poster contest for local school children about flowers and butterflies.
- Educate club and community members on the benefits of community gardens in urban areas with information about locally grown vegetables, fruits and homemade products.
- Adopt a Senior citizen housing, nursing home, assisted living facility or a VA Medical Center where they have community living centers (nursing homes). Find ways to incorporate gardens and flowers into their environment.
- Research area nature programs at parks that provide educational opportunities and volunteer to help with any projects.
- Plan a community Garden Tour as a club fundraising event.
Other ideas to live sustainably:
- Ask a Master Gardener or a landscape architect to speak at a club meeting about indigenous plants and how to plan a garden.
- Take a hike! Listen to the birds and search for butterflies, bees, and local plants. Plan to take the same walk in every season of the year.
- Sponsor an event for pre-school children to teach them about nature, build a bird treat, collect colored fall leaves, do a nature themed craft, read a story about gardening and consider taking them on a nature scavenger hunt.
- Hold a community workshop on sustainable gardening, partner with local area Garden Clubs and offer information on how to preserve the soil with cover crops and other methods. If your area already has an event of this type, offer to volunteer at the event.
- Consider supporting Heifer International by drawing attention to bees. At a club meeting, offer wildflower seed packets to promote local bee activity to members who make a donation.
GFWC PA Will Support the Protection of Domesticated Animals
GET INVOLVED WITH A LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER
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Work with a local shelter to organize a volunteer drive.
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Assist with fundraising events and activities.
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Promote domestic animal adoption programs in your local community.
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Work with a local shelter to organize a spay/neuter program.
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Find out about needed supplies and hold a drive to collect them.
- Volunteer at a local animal shelter, collect needed supplies and promote pet adoption.
- Invite a wild animal rescue volunteer to speak at a club meeting. Research and share information about what to do and who to call if you find an injured or sick wild animal.
- If your club has a book club, encourage them to choose at least one book to read about birds or have a bird of the month contest and quiz members on local birds.
- Sponsor an animal through the National Wildlife Federation.
- Continue to protect the turtles by saying “no” to disposable plastic items.
OTHER IDEAS TO PROTECT WILDLIFE AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS:
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Donate funds or needed items to local wildlife shelters that rehabilitate and care for injured animals.
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Share information with club and community members on what to do if they find an injured or sick wild animal and which agency or organization to call for help.
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Support the World Wildlife Fund programs Adopt a Tiger and/or Sign on to Stop Wildlife Crime.
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Inform club and community members about the signs of animal abuse and the proper channels for reporting cases of misuse and/or cruelty.
- Support an organization like Green Empowerment (delivering renewable energy and safe clean water worldwide) or UNICEF (WASH project to improve water, sanitation and hygiene). Host a fundraising event in their honor.
- Reduce your carbon footprint by visiting The Nature Conservancy (nature.org) website and take a test to calculate your footprint.
- Partner with a local library to have a day event focused on children and pet care. Read books about pets and offer a craft and refreshments. Sponsor a poster contest for children to draw their favorite wild animal and where it lives.
- Visit zoos, aquariums and aviaries in support of their programs providing animal care.
GFWC PA Will Support the Plant a Billion Trees Campaign & Efforts for the Reforestation of our Planet
PLANT A BILLION TREES
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Donate to the Plant a Billion Trees campaign of the Nature Conservancy.
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Join the Arbor Day Foundation and receive ten free trees to plant or donate.
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Share information with club and community members about how deforestation affects our planet.
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Work with local leaders to help your city or community become a Tree City USA community.
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Participate in local volunteer programs aimed to promote the preservation of our planet through reforestation.
OTHER IDEAS TO PRESERVE THE WORLD’S RESOURCES:
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Educate members on the dangers of poor air quality.
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Save trees by organizing a Go Paperless campaign at the club or community level.
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Promote water conservation by sharing ways to be mindful of personal water-use practices.
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Support legislation that protects our National Parks and other protected areas.
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Organize a trash pick-up day in your community. Find a stream that needs cleaned up.
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Provide a list of agencies that will take used clothing, shoes, bras, paper, electronics, etc.
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Invite a game warden or park ranger to a club meeting to talk about wildlife in our state.
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Join the National Parks theme #RecreateResponsibly and protect America’s Treasures.
Reduce Plastic Waste
A recent Reduce item that has been in the news is plastic straws. “Americans use more than 500 million straws every day. Many end up in the ocean (along with plastic bags), where sea life accidently consumes them. Nearly 90 percent of the debris in oceans is plastic. Go to www.earthday.org to join the fight.”
Restaurants are beginning to give out straws only if a patron asks for them or to use paper straws instead of plastic straws.
“Styrofoam trays, plates and bowls take centuries to break down. Now, thanks to the Urban School Food Alliance in Pennsylvania, compostable lunch trays are replacing 880,000 of the non-recyclable products that were used each month in Philadelphia schools (all of which went into landfills).”
— Parade Magazine April 15th, 2018
“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”
– Lady Bird Johnson
Join a Club Near You
Reach out to our membership chairman for help finding a club near you.
For general inquiries, contact Headquarters below or the Chairman of a specific program or advancement area.
4076 Market Street, Ste 211
Camp Hill, PA 17011-4200
T: 717-901-5095
gfwcpaclubs@comcast.net
