Good to Do
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 Sunset Creek: Schedule for Dandy Haven:
SAT. July 22 5:30 p.m. FRI. Aug. 4th – 8:30 am
SAT. Aug. 5, 9:30 a.m. SAT. Aug.19th -8:30 am
THURS. Aug. 17, 7 p.m. MON.-Sept. 4th -8:30 am (Labor Day)
Thurs. Sept. 7, 6:30 p.m. MON- Sept. 18th -8:30 am
Sat. Sept. 23, 11:30 a.m.
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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”)!
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Sign up for a Summer Rain Barrel Workshop!! July 29, 9am – 11am, you have the opportunity to learn why and how to make a rain barrel! Then you take it home, hook it up to your gutters, and start collecting your rain water to save money and water! Registration fee is $50, and classes fill up fast! Information and registration: Cris Ausink, causink@hampton.gov or 727-1158.
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Fill out a beach management survey! Students and faculty of Old Dominion University are researching local dune and beach management in Hampton Roads and we need your help! We would appreciate you taking some time out of your day to assist us by taking this survey. It will take about 5 to 8 minutes and you will have the chance to enter a raffle to win one of five $25 Amazon gift cards. Please click the link to take the survey:
http://bit.ly/Beaches-Dunes-Survey. Questions about the research? Contact Dr. Michelle Covi (mcovi@odu.edu).
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Planning some fun summer outdoor expeditions? Remember to take trash bags with you! You want to keep Hampton’s (or anywhere’s) great outdoors great and clean! Use one bag for trash, one for recyclables, and make sure you leave no trace of the fun you had! We’ll all appreciate your efforts!
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Are you eager for summer veggies and fruits, but you love your trees, too? There are still community garden plots – FREE – sign up before they’re all gone! They’re organic sites, so you can’t beat the price. http://www.hampton.gov/2798/Community-Gardens. AND it’s a good time to start a fall garden! That’s what our Community Gardens Coordinator, Wendy Iles, says!
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Nominate a Yard for the YARDS Contest: The beautiful yards you know of can’t win Yard of the Month unless you nominate them! Judging occurs monthly. Nominate a yard today! http://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions--Committees-5/YARDS-Contest-Nomination-Form-53 What are you looking for? Beautiful yard, nice plants. The YARDS Judges take care of the rest.
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Take the kids in your life to Wonderful Wednesdays at Bluebird Gap Farm! Monthly, family friendly event where kids get the opportunity to get outdoors and build their own nature craft with the VCE Hampton Master Gardeners. Held every 3rd Wednesday of the month from 10:00 am—12:00 pm at Bluebird Gap Farm.
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Sign up for the Virginia Peninsula Clean Business Forum! The upcoming Clean Business Forum will be sponsored by Newport News Recycling and will be held at Angelo’s at 755 J. Clyde Morris, Newport News. Latex Paint Recycling by Jeff Nance and Brent Trainum, Coastal Virginia Environmental Coatings, will be the topic of the morning! Registration is $12 / person. Email dbaxter@nnva.gov to sign up or for more information. Do you know who Hampton’s Clean & Green Business Award will be? Stay tuned!
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Share information about our upcoming events!
Good to Know
AFSA Chapter 358 is looking for 25-30 Volunteers to help out at Oakland Cemetery, 1009 E. Pembroke Ave, Hampton, on Saturday, 29 July from 0800-1200. The volunteers will be trimming and cutting grass and beautifying headstones around all grave plots. Bring, if you have them, gloves, mowers, weedeaters, safety glasses. Contact MSgt Ryan Trandell at ryan.trandell@us.af.mil or at 764-2824 to help out!
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Community Cleanup volunteers cleaned up Darling Stadium this morning! Included in this month's contingent of litter warriors was a large contingent of League of Conservation Voters supporters, a passerby who joined in, and three regular Community Cleanup participants. These folks removed 9.5 bags of trash and picked up 1,185 cigarette butts in just 1.5 hours. We were all pretty hot and tired by the time we finished, but Darling Stadium is clean as can BE! Thanks Ryan Adams, Jovanda Aytch, Jervone Bowens, George Curran, Monique Gatling, Mike Mallozzi, Harry Moore, Monifah Parker, Carl Smith, Darius Swift, and I'esha Winn.
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How Can We Tame the Rain? – Come tour the rain garden recently installed at Spratley Gifted Center. Learn how it (and other simple practices) can help reduce flooding, prevent pollution, and beautify your yard and community! Enter a raffle to win your own rain barrel! Speakers at this workshop will show you how to manage rainwater that floods your yard and street. These practices are cheap and easy to install. Come learn from the experts!
When: Thursday, August 17, 5:45-8:00 p.m.
Location: Spratley Gifted Center, 339 Woodland Road, Hampton 23669
Cost: FREE, includes snacks
Register: Contact Charlene Ihrig, rsvp@cbf.org, 757/809-2901
Special thanks to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for providing grant funding for this workshop.
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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 from your holiday celebrations, you can use one of Hampton’s three drop-off containers! They’re located at the Hampton Yard Waste Site, 100 North Park Lane (just off Big Bethel Road); Briarfield Park, 1540 Briarfield Road; and 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!
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The Chesapeake Bay Foundation Restoration Grant of $11,100 is earmarked to support four existing askHRgreen.org educational programs, allowing the group to:
- Expand its askHRgreen.org Bay Star Homes program, a region-wide initiative inviting residents to adopt behaviors in the homes and yards that will have a lasting impact on the waterways
- Bolster the askHRgreen.org Environmental Education Mini-Grant Program, which provides up to $500 for green-themed projects led by Hampton Roads schools teachers, youth leaders and organizations working with youth
- Develop a new Green Learning Guide, a free educational science guide for elementary-aged students in Hampton Roads
- Provide pet waste stations to distribute through the askHRgreen.org Pet Waste Station Grant Program as a way to decrease bacteria entering the watershed and educate residents about the impact of pet waste on water quality
In addition, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation grant will provide funding for a series of free, educational workshops for Hampton Roads residents.
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GOOD DEED
If you see a good Clean City deed being done, send us the information and we’ll give kudos to the good-deed-doer!
Need Volunteers
July 22 - 31: North Phoebus Community Garden Box Move, flexible times, register at wendy.iles@hampton.gov. The ground is finally leveled at NPCG! Any strong muscled folks want to help move garden boxes into place?
Throughout the year: Dandy Haven Oyster Gardening, Dandy Haven Marina, flexible times. The Dandy Haven Oyster Garden is one of two demonstration gardens the Hampton Waterways Restoration Project is hosting to encourage people to engage in oyster gardening and to allow those who don’t have access to water the opportunity to oyster garden. Volunteers will help tend the garden, cleaning, removing “critters”, and making sure the baby oysters are happy. Contact Cris at causink@hampton.gov for information and to sign up.
Educational Opportunities
Nature Paddle, July 22, 9 a.m.- 11 a.m., Hampton River/Elizabeth Lake, (launch starting at 8:30 a.m.): Hampton Waterways Restoration Project (HWRP) and Elizabeth Lake Environmental Stewardship Committee (ELESC) are teaming up to host a nature paddle. Paddling is beginner level. Families welcome! To sign up, causink@hampton.gov. Bring your own human-powered boat (canoe, kayak, other) and life jacket (for each boater).
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VCE Hampton Master Gardener Brown Bag Gardening Seminars:
Free, bi-monthly gardening classes with Lise Schioler. Classes are held from 11:30 am—12:30 pm at ViGYAN, 30 Research Dr., Hampton 23666.
July 25—Virginia Native Plants
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Community Garden Classes:
You don’t have to be a community gardener to attend these classes!
July 29, 9am, About Biochar, Buckroe Community Garden, Hampton MG Rhonda Graves explains what biochar is, why you need it, and how you make it. BYO chair. http://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions-Committees-5/Community-Garden-Event-Registration-Form-132
August 17, 6pm, Growing your own Mushrooms, Buckroe Community Garden, with VCE Agent Gaylynn Johnson (make and take class, materials fee tbd). Must preregister! http://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions-Committees-5/Community-Garden-Event-Registration-Form-132
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Remember to check Sandy Bottom Nature Park for the classes they hold as well! http://hampton.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=58,#nextToCurrentMonth
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 nominations for:
Littered areas to target for cleanups, hccc@hampton.gov - we're working toward setting up special cleanups for nominated areas based on safety and time available
Clean & Green Businesses (litter prevention, beautification, waste reduction, and environmental community service), http://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions--Committees-5/Hampton-Clean-City-Commission-Clean--Gre-64 - we award the Hampton Clean & Green Business Award quarterly, and are working toward a recognition for green businesses, let us know who they are!
Beautiful Yards, http://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions--Committees-5/YARDS-Contest-Nomination-Form-53 - we visit yards monthly May through September to award Yard of the Month to three winners, you have to nominate someone for them to win!
Good-Deed-Doers to feature in the HCCC News – contact Debbie at hccc@hampton.gov.
Upcoming Meetings
All HCCC meetings are open to the public, and we welcome your participation!
July 27: Virginia Peninsula Clean Business Forum, Angelo’s Restaurant, 755 J Clyde Morris Blvd, Newport News, 8:30am, information at dbaxter@nnva.gov
August 1: Clean & Green Businesses Committee Meeting, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 3:30pm, information at hccc@hampton.gov
August 3: Litter & Recycling Awareness Committee Meeting, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 11:30am, information at hccc@hampton.gov
August 8: HCCC Full Commission Meeting, Hampton City Hall, 5th Floor, Community Development Conference Room, 3:30pm, information at hccc@hampton.gov
August 14: YARDS Judging, HCCC Office, 1296 Thomas Street, 8:30am, information at hccc@hampton.gov
August 10: HWRP Meeting, Ft Monroe Community Center Community Room, 100 Stilwell Road, 6:30pm, information at causink@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
Beautification Committee – works on a variety of projects including the YARDS Contest, tree tours, beautification projects, and education. Contact hccc@hampton.gov
Clean & Green Business 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
Hampton Waterways Restoration Project – works on a variety of clean waterway projects, including shoreline cleanups, water monitoring, and education. Contact causink@hampton.gov
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
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