HCCC News: February 17 - 23, 2018
GOOD TO DO & KNOW!
Reminder: The HCCC office will be closed on Presidents Day, Monday, February 19.
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POSTPONED TO FEBRUARY 23 due to weather!
E Street Community Cleanup, February 23, 3pm, sign up at hccc@hampton.gov or 727-1130. We need at least 20 volunteers to cover the entire street, so please ask your coworkers, family, and friends to join in!
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Rain Barrel Workshop! Saturday, February 24, 9am – 11am, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street. Learn how and why to make a rain barrel, take yours home, and then make some more! $50 registration fee covers barrel and fittings. Register at https://va-hampton2.civicplus.com/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions-Committees-5/Rain-Barrel-Workshop-Registration-127.
Additional dates: March 10 (9am), March 24 (9am), April 14 (9am and 1pm)
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Adopt-A-Spot and other volunteers: Big Bethel Road has become very littered from end to end! Big Bethel Road Adopt-A-Spot groups, if you can plan a cleanup as soon as possible that would be great! Other volunteers, neighbors, walkers, anything you can do to help keep it clean would be greatly appreciated. Bethel High School students – would you like to perform some community service? We’ll issue certificates to you!
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Volunteers Needed to Distribute Know Your Zone Stickers to Hampton Households! Are you part of a group that could help distribute large numbers of stickers on trash days? Public Works would very much appreciate your help! We want to make sure everyone knows which zone they live in so they will be better equipped to respond to emergency messages.
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Visit a Hampton Waterways Restoration Project Oyster Gardening Demonstration at one or both of two local marinas! The schedule is designed to make it easy for you to come whenever you can! Register for a tour or to help oyster garden at causink@hampton.gov. Small groups are welcome!
Schedule for Dandy Haven, 374 Dandy Haven Rd:
Thursday, March 1, 8:30am
Schedule for Sunset Creek, 4337 Kecoughtan Rd:
Saturday, March 10, 11am
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HCCC’s Clean & Green Workplaces Committee meets February 20, 3:30pm, at the Goodwill Employment Center, 1911 Saville Row.
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The Great American Cleanup Begins March 1
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HCCC’s Litter & Recycling Awareness Committee meets March 1, 11:30am, at Mama Rosa’s Restaurant, 617 E Mercury Blvd, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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Water Quality Monitoring, March 18, 1pm, Back River and Elizabeth Lake. Contact Cris at causink@hampton.gov or 727-5811.
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Organizations that would like to join in the Creation Care Day are welcome to contact Jan Spencer at mspencer 11@cox.net! If you would like to attend, save the date in your calendar!
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Volunteers Needed for Hampton Community Gardens! Volunteers who can cut, nail, and/or screw together garden boxes are very much needed by our Hampton Community Gardens! The Community Garden Coordinator needs to build a compost bin and five raised bed boxes at North Phoebus Community Garden and a compost bin at Phoebus Community Garden. Contact Hampton VA Community Gardens at wendy.iles@hampton.gov to sign up! Do something good for Hampton this winter!
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Community Garden Classes:
Good Bugs: Beneficial Arthropods in the Garden, March 1, by Dr. Barbara Abraham, Entomologist and Professor at Hampton Univ. 6-7pm. For more information, wendy.iles@hampton.gov. You must register to attend.
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Hampton Master Gardener Brown Bag Workshops with VCE Hampton Master Gardener Lise Schioler, all classes 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Free to the Public! Brown bag lunches welcome at both locations. Pizza is available for a nominal donation at the ViGYAN conference room.
- Soils, Fertilizers, and Compost, February 27, ViGYAN conference room
- Lawn Care, March 13, Northampton Library
- Container Gardening, March 27, ViGYAN conference room
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HCCC History! June 28, 2018 will be HCCC’s 40th anniversary, and we’re highlighting volunteers and achievements from the past to the best of our ability. If YOU have photos, stories, experiences, or mementos that you would like to share with us, we’d love them! In the regard to the mementos, please send photos of them. J The following are stories we posted this week, with a little extra information:
- HCCC History! Full Commission Meeting, February 12, 2013: Theresa Sellers, Jim Williams, Beverly Credle, and Cris Ausink.
- HCCC History! Bethel Landfill tree planting, February 14, 2014. With our partners Bethel Landfill, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and USS Abraham Lincoln, more than 1,000 tree seedlings were planted at Bethel Landfill on Valentine's Day 2014.
- HCCC History! Adopt-A-Spot participant Ken Woods, Sons of Confederate Veterans, February 15, 2011. Mr Woods, the primary volunteer for the group, participated in the Adopt-A-Spot program from August 2002 through December 2017. He held 116 cleanups, contributed 321 volunteer hours, picked up 218 bags of trash on Big Bethel Road from the York County line to Saunders Road, and picked up 37,033 cigarette ends.
- HCCC History! Herbert's Creek Cleanup, February 16, 2007
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Share information about our upcoming events!
GOOD TO REMEMBER!
Recycle all your plastic food, beverage, and household containers!! Yay TFC Recycling for including all plastic household containers in their list of recyclables! Take advantage of the opportunity! Yogurt cups – check! Applesauce cups – check! Syrup bottles - check!! Just remember – NO foamed plastic (“styrofoam”)! If you’d like some guidance, visit the Round Robin episode on recycling plastics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbsuPXIFBiQ&list=PL3761D4B106784B15&index=7.
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Drop-off Recycling Information – if you live in an apartment or condominium and don’t have recycling provided by your management, or if you have a lot of extra recyclables for some reason, you can use one of Hampton’s three drop-off containers! They’re located at:
- Hampton Yard Waste Site, 100 North Park Lane (just off Big Bethel Road)
- Briarfield Park, 1540 Briarfield Road
- Gosnold’s Hope Park, 900 Little Back River Road
All these sites accept the same materials that are accepted in the curbside recycling program! Including the cartons and plastics!
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Help Needed: Sign your group up for some very special, very much needed cleanups! We’ve been asked to recruit volunteers to clean up some highly littered areas on a one-time basis, or, if you really like the spot, an Adopt-A-Spot basis. These sites are all adults only, require the use of safety vests, exercising extreme caution, and working facing the traffic. They also require early morning cleanups, preferably on weekends.
Here are the sites, along with information about them:
- Armistead Intersection at Hampton Roads Center Parkway: This site would work for a smaller group (approximately 10). The work would involve cleaning the roadsides of the intersection as noted in the attached map. We will provide safety signs for approaching traffic. Volunteers would be asked to minimize crossing the streets and crossing only at the intersection.
- Big Bethel Road Intersection at Hampton Roads Center Parkway: This site would work for a smaller group (approximately 10). The work would involve cleaning the roadsides of the intersection as noted in the attached map. We will provide safety signs for approaching traffic. Volunteers would be asked to minimize crossing the streets and crossing only at the intersection.
- Mercury at LaSalle Interchange: Because of the high volume, high-speed traffic and the blind curves at this site, we need to coordinate with Public Works to be protected by crash trucks. Despite the additional coordination, this site is the worst of the three and desperately needs cleaning. Ideally, we would have 20 – 40 volunteers at this site.
If you and your group are interested in claiming one of these sites for cleanup, please contact Debbie at hccc@hampton.gov.
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If you have some sheets and blankets that are too good to throw away or recycle, but not really good enough to give to a charity, the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter is the perfect place for them! Drop them at 5843 Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, 8am-5pm 7 days a week, or call 757-933-8900 for information.
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GOOD DEED
Kudos to Jones Magnet Middle School Principal Dr. Daniel Bowling! He’s known to blow leaves off the sidewalk to Keep Jones Beautiful!
If you see a good Clean City deed being done, send us the information and we’ll give kudos to the good-deed-doer!
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Looking for Recycling Feedback: What do you need to know to be the best recycler you can be? Email hccc@hampton.gov
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Looking for NEWSLETTER Feedback: What do we need to do to give you a newsletter you can use? Email hccc@hampton.gov
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Looking for nominations for:
UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS!
All HCCC meetings are open to the public, and we welcome your participation!
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February 20: Clean & Green Workplaces Committee Meeting, Goodwill Community Employment Center, 1911 Saville Row, 3:30pm, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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February 22: Fundraising Committee Meeting, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 11am, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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March 1: Litter & Recycling Awareness Committee Meeting, Mama Rosa’s Restaurant, 617 E Mercury Blvd, 11:30am, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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March 8: Hampton Waterways Restoration Project Meeting, Fort Monroe Community Center, 100 Stilwell Drive, 6:30pm, information at causink@hampton.gov
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March 12: Beautification Committee Meeting, Hampton Clean City Commission Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 11am, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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March 13: Commission Meeting, Hampton Clean City Commission Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 3:30pm, information at hccc@hampton.gov
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March 14: School Pride In Action Committee Meeting, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 4:30pm, information at hccc@hampton.gov
LOOKING FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS!
Hampton Clean City Commission Board – oversees the programs and projects of the Hampton Clean City Commission and focuses on recognizing volunteers, board members are appointed by City Council. Contact hccc@hampton.gov for more information. Fill out a Board Bank application at https://hampton.granicus.com/boards/forms/239/apply/623877?code=34def5d9-e341-4ae1-9448-a571250065f4.
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Beautification Committee – works on a variety of projects including the YARDS Contest, tree tours, beautification projects, and education. Contact hccc@hampton.gov
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Clean & Green Workplaces Committee – works on the quarterly Clean & Green Business Awards, the Virginia Peninsula Clean Business Awards breakfast, and other workplace-related projects. Contact hccc@hampton.gov
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Hampton Waterways Restoration Project – works on a variety of clean waterway projects, including shoreline cleanups, water monitoring, and education. Contact causink@hampton.gov
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Litter & Recycling Awareness Committee – works on cleaning up Hampton through special cleanups and the Adopt-A-Spot program, as well as encouraging litter-free events, solid waste education efforts, and trash tours. Contact hccc@hampton.gov
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School Pride In Action Committee – educators (formal and informal) who encourage environmental lessons and activities in the classroom and on the school grounds, as well as emphasizing teacher education. Contact hccc@hampton.gov