Dinniman: Volunteer for Earth Day Events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2009

CONTACT: ADAM CIRUCCI
PHONE: 610-692-2112
acirucci@pasenate.com

State Senator Andy Dinniman encouraged residents to sign up to participate in this spring’s Earth Day events to keep our neighborhoods, parks and roadways clean.

Dinniman plans to participate in the Lionville Youth Association’s annual cleanup of Lionville Park, along with students from Lionville Middle School, on April 16.

“Everyone does a little spring cleaning around the house and we need to do the same for our public places, open spaces, riverbanks and roadways,” Dinniman said. “I welcome all Chester and Montgomery county residents, especially our young people, to give a few hours of their time back to the community to help make this a cleaner, better place,”

The Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania, a statewide effort to remove litter and trash from roads, parks and open spaces, runs from March 1 to May 31.

For a listing of cleanup events, resources on organizing a cleanup or other information on the initiative, visit www.greatpacleanup.org.

Dinniman said that PennDOT is also looking for volunteers to build on its Adopt-A-Highway cleanup efforts by participating in “Pick It Up Days.” PennDOT provides gloves and vests for Adopt-A-Highway and Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania groups. Those interested in adopting a section of highway should contact their local PennDOT maintenance office:

• For Chester County call Lillian Frank at (484)-340-3217; and
• For Montgomery County call Victoria Wood at (610)-275-2368.

PennDOT has also developed an interactive CD that offers tips and instructions on how to stay safe while volunteering in beautification efforts. For a copy, contact Dick Ebeling, state highway beautification manager, at (717)-705-1552.

“Earth Day is April 22, but you don’t need to wait until then to get involved. Keeping Pennsylvania beautiful is a year-round effort and I thank that thousands of volunteers who give their time and energy to do just that,” Dinniman said.

Over the past five years, the Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania has yielded more than 35 million pounds of collected trash, involved 768,925 volunteers and resulted in 69,180 miles of highway cleaned. As part of those efforts, 467,462 Adopt-A-Highway volunteers collected more than 19 million pounds of litter on 56,304 miles of highway in that same period.

For more information, call Senator Dinniman’s office at 610-692-2112 or e-mail acirucci@pasenate.com.

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