County of Bath Chamber of Commerce sponsors Earth Day Clean-up

“Ask not what Bath County can do for you, but what you can do for your Bath County”; It is taking a liberty to put a spin on those famous words, but there are several opportunities in the next few months when your county needs volunteers. Please plan to participate in any, or all of these events, put on by two different county organizations working hard to make this a great place to live and to visit. In this segment we’ll hear from Emily Plecker, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. In the next few days Celine Pritt, tourism coordinator, from the Office of Tourism, speaks about other opportunities to make a big difference and have some fun at the same time.
Since Earth Day is this week, we’ll begin there.
“In honor of Earth Day, the County of Bath Chamber of Commerce likes to challenge the local businesses, the entire community to come together in cleaning up the roadsides in Bath County. And this year our annual spring clean up day will be on April 25th. The orange trash bags, and safety vests will be available here.” These free bags are bigger and tougher than your average garbage bag, and the time is right for collecting before the grass gets too tall.
To register the section of road you and your crew would like to work on, just call the Chamber office. Emily explained why it’s helpful to let them know where you, and your helpers worked.
“VDOT will come and pick up the trash bags the following week if you leave them next to the road where you have picked up the trash. Everyone uses the recycling bins throughout the county to dispose of cardboard and plastic bottles, newspaper and aluminum.”
In addition to coordinating the roadside cleanup, the Bath Chamber can help you get rid of your electronic clutter by making sure it gets recycled, or disposed of in an appropriate way. Most of the items on the following list should not go into a landfill.
“We will also be doing electronic recycling”, said Emily Plecker. “There will be a recycling bin located in the parking lot in Hot Springs beside the chamber office, and we will be able to accept items such as copiers, scanners, modems, printers, VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, computers, laptops, video game systems, fax machines, telephones and equipment. Even metal office furniture can be donated. However, we are not accepting TVs this year.”
Jackson River Enterprises teamed up with the Chamber and will leave the bin for collection on Wednesday, and collect it on Saturday. These two opportunities to do something for the planet are simple and straightforward. In the ecologically friendly triangle, we all learned about in elementary school, these two touch mainly on Recycling, and Reducing the litter on the roads. The ReUse piece of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle can easily be filled by shopping at a local thrift store. To participate in the Earth Day activities just pick up your orange bags at the Chamber office and walk the road of your choice collecting trash and recyclables, and/or bring a load of unusable electronics to the parking lot beside the Chamber in Hot Springs.
“You can contact the Chamber office with your locations at 839-5409, or contact me directly at executivedirector@tds.net.”
Then, to celebrate your participation in helping keep Bath County Beautiful, plan to attend the annual Chamber of Commerce Business Appreciation dinner. This special event, to which the public is invited, is being held Thursday, April 30th at Garth Newel Music Center. Social Hour begins at 6:00 and dinner is at 7:00. Tickets are 70 dollars per person, and include a fabulous meal from the Garth Newel Kitchen. The Honorees of this year’s dinner are: Business of the year: Dominion Resources, Bath County Power Station; Volunteer Organization of the year: the Christmas Mother Program; and Educators of the year, from Bath County High School, Joey Altizer, Valley Elementary School, Carol Martin, and Millboro Elementary School, Kim Lancaster. Please RSVP for this dinner as soon as possible to: 839-5409, or contact Emily Plecker at executivedirector@tds.net .