The Charles River Watershed Association is one of only three environmental organizations across the country selected to participate in a $15,000 challenge grant competition for excellence in protecting and nurturing the urban environment.
The contest, sponsored by JetBlue for Good’s GreenUp campaign during the month of April, which is Earth Month, recognizes “earth-friendly” organizations that have had a positive impact on the environment. Participants can vote every day through the end of April at www.jetblueforgood.com/GreenUp.
“We urge CRWA members and friends to vote today and every day until the voting ends on April 30,” said CRWA Executive Director Bob Zimmerman. “It’s a unique opportunity for us to win funds for our important work protecting the Charles River.”
CRWA, the leading science and advocacy nonprofit protecting and restoring the Charles River and its watershed, would use the grant to support its work including the annual Charles River Cleanup, which will be held on April 28 this year. The cleanup removes some twenty tons of garbage annually from the river and is considered the largest cleanup of its kind nationally. Every year thousands of volunteers, on foot, in boots and waders, and in myriad boats, fan out along the entire 80-mile length of the Charles to collect debris, in the process educating participants about the hazards of littering and despoiling the natural environment.
CRWA is competing with two other non-profits in the contest’s urban environment category: the Thanksgiving Point Institute for family learning in Utah and the sustainability resource program known as GrowNYC in New York.
CRWA’s Zimmerman points out that voting takes three easy steps: 1. Go to www.jetblueforgood.com/GreenUp and enter your name and email address; 2. Click the “vote” button next to CRWA or the non-profit of your choice; and 3. Scroll to the bottom and click “submit my vote.”
“Let’s make the most of the opportunity,” he said. “We need your votes.”