CHARLESTON, W.Va. (May 17, 2019) – Hundreds of
young people from across West Virginia are expected to attend the 56th
annual Youth Environmental Day on Saturday, May 18, at North Bend State Park in
Cairo. The event is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection’s (WVDEP) Youth Environmental Program (YEP), and several
corporations, businesses and other organizations.
Held annually on the third weekend in May, the
event honors youth group members for their participation in community
environmental projects that include litter cleanups, recycling drives, school
landscaping projects, tree planting, watershed protection and more. Awards
totaling more than $15,000 will be presented during Saturday’s ceremony –
including the Rick Vecellio Memorial Scholarship, which awards a graduating
senior with a $2,500 per year scholarship for four years. Only YEP members are
eligible for awards.
In addition to the awards ceremony, Youth
Environmental Day will include exhibits, hiking, a fishing derby, a scavenger
hunt and more activities. Special guests include current West Virginia
University Mountaineer and former Rick Vecellio Memorial Scholarship winner Tim
Eads, Smokey the Bear, Eddie the Eagle and Ralph the Recycling Raccoon.
The YEP consists of 1,032 clubs with a total
membership of 22,169. Last year, YEP members totaled over 34,220 volunteer
hours, cleaned up 75 miles of state roadways and collected 8.36 tons of trash.
Based on the Independent Sector’s estimated value of a volunteer hour, the YEP
saved state taxpayers over $844,000.
For more information about the YEP or Youth
Environmental Day, contact YEP program manager Annette Hoskins at Annette.L.Hoskins@wv.gov
or 304-926-0499 ext. 1659.
For more WVDEP news and
information, go to www.dep.wv.gov. Also, connect with the agency on
all social media platforms. Follow @DEPWV on Twitter, Like us on Facebook
at https://www.facebook.com/depwv/, and find us on YouTube by
searching “Environment
Matters.”
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