During June, Keep Virginia Beautiful is awarding its annual “30 Grants in Thirty Days,” and the first award this year goes to the Town of Kilmarnock, according to special events coordinator Ashely Jones.
The town is receiving a grant of $1,000 in the “cigarette litter prevention” category, said Jones.
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 over $178,000 to fund 230 environmental projects and programs all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity this year of its partners at Altria and Keep America Beautiful.
Town Centre Park has been struggling with cigarette butts littering the grass and sidewalks, walking paths and even near the children’s play area, said Jones. The mayor and staff often pick up the littered cigarette butts and collected hundreds off the ground in just one week.
The “Don’t Be a Butt” litter campaign provides patrons of the park cigarette butt receptacles as an alternative to throwing the butts on the ground. Small signs attached to the receptacles will instruct visitors where to deposit their cigarette butts and deter littering.
“We are super excited and honored to be the first grant recipients for the 2018 program. When coming up with the name and slogan, I knew it had to be catchy so people would pay attention. This program is not only a home run for the park but it will help our community with the hopes of decreasing all litter in our area,” said Jones.
The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve natural and scenic environment through litter prevention, waste reduction, recycling, beautification and environmental education.
