By Tim Badgley
Keep American Beautiful national trainer Sue Smith, left, and PWA supporter Susan Foster, right, flank Keep Pemaquid Peninsula Beautiful Steering Committee members, left to right, Lynne Gilbert, Anti-Trash Queen Joanna Holland, Donna Minnis, Peggy Drake, Louise Riley, Linda Shaffer, and Joan Panek, following the ceremony certifying PWA as an affiliate of KAB at Pemaquid Light, May 28. (Tim Badgley photo) |
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The Pemaquid Watershed Association received its certification as the first Maine affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc. in a ceremony at the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park Education Center May 28.
As a certified affiliate, PWA will qualify to apply for grant funding available exclusively to Keep America Beautiful affiliates for programs such as cigarette litter prevention, workplace recycling, green space restoration, and litter prevention education in schools.
“Our mission is to conserve the natural resources of the Pemaquid Peninsula of Maine,” said Pemaquid Watershed Association Board of Directors President Peggy Drake. “This affiliation is a perfect extension of our mission to maintain the beauty and quality of this place.”
Keep America Beautiful is a national nonprofit that provides funding and education programs for environmental beautification and the prevention of litter. The mission of the organization is to engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment.
PWA has already received one such grant in the form of 20 recycling bins available for distribution to communities along the peninsula that ask for them. Five of the bins will be headed to Damariscotta for placement at Riverside Park and other designated locations in town.
Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville; Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle; and Rep. Ellen Winchenbach, R-Waldoboro, each wrote a letter in support of PWA’s affiliate application to Keep America Beautiful. Johnson and Winchenbach were present at the ceremony. Devin was previously engaged and unable to attend.
PWA Executive Director Donna Minnis thanked town officials, PWA members and volunteers, and board members for being present and supporting the organization.
Minnis acknowledged Brad Perry, of Salt Bay Framing, a business partner of PWA, for introducing her to then-Keep America Beautiful staff member Susan Foster, who encouraged the association to apply for affiliate status.
Minnis also thanked Foster for delivering funding for half the cost of the Keep America Beautiful affiliate application fee and for her generous donation to defray the cost of the ceremony event.
As part of the affiliate application process, PWA established a Keep Pemaquid Peninsula Beautiful Steering Committee to conduct a survey of litter on the peninsula. The committee members are Lynne Gilbert, Joanna Holland, Louise Riley, Linda Shaffer, and Joan Panek.
“I’ve been with PWA for eight years. I have seen awesome volunteers. Every one of you is in that category,” Minnis said to the five women.
According to Minnis, committee members drove to randomly selected segments of roadway, counted and categorized the pieces of litter they found, and compiled their findings into a report submitted to Keep America Beautiful.
Minnis introduced Keep America Beautiful national trainer Sue Smith. “Litter is not a trivial issue,” Smith said. “It is the one environmental problem we can fix.”
Smith presented Drake with a framed certificate designating PWA as a certified affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.
Rounding out the ceremony was the appearance of the anti-trash queen, as portrayed by Joanna Holland, decked out in a cape and a crown of assembled of bits of litter and recyclables.
Holland closed the ceremony with a proclamation. “From this day forth, forevermore, all of you will keep Pemaquid peninsula beautiful!” she said.
