This week we highlighted many different ways you can volunteer around Blacksburg – activities that help the earth as well as activities that help each other. Many of us are doing as much as we can in our own homes to promote sustainability and help preserve the environment, but when we volunteer we are able to reach many more people and accomplish things we could never do on our own. So please volunteer when you can and magnify your efforts by working with others.
Volunteering in Action
We want to thank everyone out there who volunteered their time and resources this week (including the activities going on today and tomorrow)! Let’s keep up the volunteering!
THIS WEEK…
Invasive species were removed from Stadium Woods and the Stroubles Creek Watershed
Roadsides, parks, streams, school grounds, and other public properties are being cleaned
Trees were planted
Food was donated
We reduced our waste and reused more
Over $2000 was raised for our Small Grants Program (a big thank you to Theta Chi for their ambitious fundraising efforts in our honor)
Wisdom was shared
And so much more!
Removing Invasive Species from Stadium Woods & Stroubles Creek
This past Tuesday was all about removing invasive species. Volunteers joined the New River Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist to remove invasive species from Stadium Woods and they joined Dr. Jeff Kirwan to explore and remove invasive species from the watershed of Stroubles Creek. These are not one-time events though. Volunteers meet often to remove invasive species from Stadium Woods. Learn how to get involved here.
Learn More About Volunteering with YToss
Ytoss, a project of the YMCA at Virginia Tech, has to be one of the best sustainability ideas ever! Each year, the program collects gently-used unwanted items from the VT dorms during the student move-out days. The items are then made available to incoming students during the fall move-in sale on VT’s campus. The program diverts TONS of items that otherwise could end up in the landfill but instead can be reused year after year after year. However, it takes a LOT of volunteer effort to make it happen and it’s difficult for students to participate due to exams and moving out. Join us for April’s Lunch and Learn program where you can learn more about volunteering with YToss as well as participating in the upcoming City Nature Challenge.
Food Pantry Needs
We often think of sustainability only as protecting the environment, but we can’t have a sustainable world if many of our citizens are going hungry. The United Nations recognized this when world leaders at the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) reaffirmed the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger. A number of organizations in our area are working to get food to hungry people and they need volunteers. Some of this food would otherwise go to waste, making these efforts even more important for sustainability. The YMCA at Virginia Tech’s Meals on Main program has ongoing openings for people to help distribute meals (sign up here).
The Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry, Micah’s Backpack and Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program are all working hard to help those in our community who are food insecure, so please consider volunteering.
Coming Up…
Week 5 starts tomorrow! Join us as we talk about Spending Time Outdoors and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook to see daily updates.