Eleven Anne Arundel County environmental nonprofits are collaborating on a new, 24-hour online fundraising initiative, called GreenGive, designed to both raise funds and expand residents’ and businesses’ engagement with local environmental organizations, issues, projects and actions. It’s the first time multiple environmental nonprofits have collaborated on such an event.
GreenGive is scheduled to start on Monday, June 12, at 5 p.m. and run through Tuesday, June 13, at 5 p.m. This online push is meant to harness the collective power of individuals like you to provide the critical funds we need to protect Spa Creek and all waterways and land in Anne Arundel County.
Every donation of $100 or more given during the GreenGive will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous family foundation.
A GreenGive Live Kick-off Party is scheduled for Monday, June 12, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Historic London Town & Gardens in Edgewater.
“Anne Arundel County is blessed with an abundance of magificent natural wonders,” said County Executive Steve Schuh. “Events like the GreenGive help ensure we can keep our County beautiful.”
The GreenGive Partners are:
Annapolis Green
Back Creek Conservancy
Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails
Our Creeks and Conservancy
St. Luke’s Restoration of Nature Project
Spa Creek Conservancy
Scenic Rivers Land Trust
Severn River Association
South River Federation
Watershed Stewards Academy
West/Rhode Riverkeeper
In the lead up to GreenGive, the 11 GreenGive Partners will be mobilizing their constituents through email and social media to become a force for the greener good in Anne Arundel County by learning more about each of the 11 organizations. Supporters will then be encouraged to Pick 2! organizations to donate to during GreenGive. More details about GreenGive Partners and their organizations, registration for the Kick-off Party, and how to donate (with special thanks to WhatsUp?TIX for assistance in managing donations) is available at greengive.annapolisgreen.com.
“We are challenging our supporters to recognize that the more we work together and the more we give, the more we will accomplish,” Suzanne Kilby Etgen, executive director of the Anne Arundel Watershed Stewards Academy, and a lead coordinator of GreenGive said. “Real change requires a true collective effort. We want our community members to become fully engaged in the great programs underway in Anne Arundel County to restore local waterways, ensure clean water, protect trails and lands, and establish Anne Arundel County as an exemplary urban watershed. We will be encouraging constituents to broaden their interests and become more engaged in all of our work.”
During GreenGive, the 11 organizations will be promoting projects and initiatives on which they have collaborated.
An excellent example is the 1,000-ft. stormwater-stream bed restoration project currently underway on five acres of land behind St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Eastport. The idea for the project started with parishioners Betsy Love and Alice Hall in 2013. Love, an active member of the Severn River Association, joined and became trained by the Watershed Stewards Academy to become better equipped to lead the project. The restoration project, slated for completion this year, received $1.2 million in funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Back Creek Conservancy, and a consortium of donors. (For more, see chesapeakequarterly.net/V16N1/main3)
As Love said in describing her project to Chesapeake Quarterly, “Stormwater management alone is such a big problem, everyone needs to get involved.” That’s who GreenGive aims to involve as well – everyone.