As we gear up for a busy April with several Earth Day events, we want to take time to thank our volunteers throughout the year who make all of our programs possible. In 2017, we had almost 1,300 volunteers who helped make our waterways cleaner, clearer, and safer. We appreciate your efforts and dedication to improving our water resources so citizens in Northwest Ohio can continue to enjoy them. This year, National Volunteer Week and Earth Day fall in the same week (April16-22nd), so you can double your impact by volunteering with us during this time! For Earth month, we have several ways that you can get involved with PCS and help us to support healthy waters and healthy communities.

• Spaghetti Fundraiser: On Saturday, April 14th from 5-7 pm, PCS will be hosting an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner at Friendship Park Community Center in Point Place (2930 131st St. Toledo, OH 43611). We will be celebrating Lake Erie with a presentation by Dr. Patrick Lawrence from the University of Toledo. Tickets for this event are $15 and can be purchased at the door. If you want a quality meal while learning about water quality in our region, be sure to register with PCS President Terry Shankland at (419) 255-2956. No RSVP is needed but it would help us prepare enough food!
• Go Green with us: We have several opportunities for those wanting to do something positive for the planet this month. Be part of our Green Team at the Glass City Marathon. Kick off Earth Week with us at Bowling Green State University as part of their Eco Fair on April 18th from 11-2pm. Help us spread education and awareness on marine debris at the University of Toledo’s Earth Fest on April 24th from 10-2pm.   Plan your own Clean Your Stream 365 program and help us to clean up our creeks, streams, and rivers after the winter defrost.
• Give Green to us: As a small, local, non-profit organization, we rely on our sponsors and donors to help support our mission of clean, clear, and safe water. If you are unable to volunteer with us, but still want to make an impact for Earth Day, please consider a monetary donation towards one of our many programs and events. There are several options for donating:
  • Send a check to Partners for Clean Streams – P.O. Box 203 Perrysburg, OH 43552
  • Use our secure PayPal account
  • Consider becoming a Stream Supporter with a tax-deductible, monthly donation
    • For the cost of one cup of coffee per month, you can make a big annual impact on local water quality

We are still seeking volunteers to help with our Mercy Health Glass City Marathon “Green Team”. This will be our third year partnering with the Toledo Roadrunners as we strive for a more sustainable marathon.   Our role at the marathon will be diverting all the recyclable materials we can. Last year, we recycled 800 pounds of glass, 1800 pounds of cardboard, 40 pounds of plastic overwrap, 50 pounds of plastic cups and bottles, and Terracycled® 25 pounds of Gu packs. We want to increase our efforts again this year! PCS will be at the expo on Friday to provide educational materials about our programs and preventing marine debris. We need help on Saturday and Sunday with our recycling efforts. If you are interested in going green with us for Earth Day, please contact PCS through our website or call our office at (419) 874-0727. We have three shifts available for volunteers:

• Saturday 4/21: 8:00-11:30am
• Sunday 4/22: 8:30-12:00pm
• Sunday 4/22: 12:00-3:00pm

On Sunday, March 18^th, PCS hosted the 16^th Annual Partnering for Clean Streams Youth Patch Day Workshop and it was a huge success! We had 51 kids who came out to the new location at the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center in Oregon. The warm, sunny day and panoramic view of Lake Erie enhanced the six hands-on water quality activities our presenters prepared for the participants. This year, we had six presenters: Andrea Beard with the City of Oregon, Richard Kroeger with the Ohio EPA, Cheryl Rice with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jamie Kochensparger with Lucas County Soil and Water Conservation District, Marilyn DuFour with the City of Toledo Environmental Services, and Rachel Lohner and two UT graduate students from the Lake Erie Center. Parents of the patch-earners commented that the kids had a great time, learned a lot about water quality, and hope to be back next year. We hope so too as this is a great program to get younger students engaged in making clear choices for clean water. We want to thank all the kids who are Clean Water Superheroes and all of our presenters who helped make this program possible!