Our focus at Keep Virginia Cozy is to reduce the amount of litter within the Commonwealth by holding frequent cleanups and educating the community in a hands on approach, through dedicated outreach and continued support.
Leader
Brian Bell
Location
Brander Street Richmond, VA 23225
Keep Virginia Cozy is volunteer led group of Virginia residents that are dedicated to ridding the Commonwealth of litter. Our focus is to hold these cleanup events along Virginia waterways, park systems and within residential communities. While we are based in Central Virginia we hope to partner with communities, parks and local businesses throughout the state to, Keep Virginia Cozy.
Forward. Moving. Progress.
Our tasks may seem small but the results will be huge: To create a litter free Virginia.
Our main focus at Keep Virginia Cozy is to hold frequent litter cleanups in our residential communities, park systems and along our waterways to prevent local litter from reaching our rivers, bays, and ultimately preventing litter from traveling into the Atlantic.
While removing litter is the first step, we also realize that occasionally additional steps are needed to prevent folks from littering going forward. This may be in the form of providing additional trash receptacles in areas of the community or park systems where there is not currently a dedicated receptacle. Taking steps to provide additional receptacles as needed would ensure that waste is properly disposed of as opposed to being littered on the ground.
Occasionally a more hands on approach is needed on the ground in the form of invasive species removal or trail work. You see, when litter mixes with invasive plants such as Kudzu and covers trails along our waterways it can create a bit of a Rubix cube. These cases require a lot of teamwork and patience to restore that habitat to its natural state. In some instances it may be necessary for us to have "layer" approach to our cleanup events. We start first by removing the invasive species, then by clearing litter and finally by repairing and reestablishing the trail.
Still with us? Phew! It sounds like a lot of work, right? But remember that old slogan "There is no "I" in "TEAM"? We firmly live that motto at Keep Virginia Cozy. Without our volunteers none of this would be possible.
We plan to partner with local communities, neighborhood associations, and businesses to provide us with the hands on power to get involved while we bear the burden of the rest. Keep Virginia Cozy will be there to provide volunteers with all necessary equipment such as trash pickers, safety vests, reusable gardening gloves, bottled water to stay hydrated, and trash bags. During instances of waterway cleanups we will provide items such as waders and shovels, gardening equipment for invasive species removal. Our hope is that by providing the tools, the guidance, support and education to the community that we will have a positive impact on reducing the amount of litter in Virginia.
Ever head out on a hike or take your kids to the park to enjoy a beautiful day only to see the area ravaged by litter? Imagine how the animals feel who live there, imagine how our waterways feel covered in litter. We started out as a group of friends picking up litter on our outdoor adventures but our hope is to extend our outreach across the state. Through community engagement and education during our cleanups we hope to drastically reduce the amount of litter in Virginia.
