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Great American Cleanup

March 28, 2011                                                                                    

Mayor Brown and 311 CALL AND RESOLUTION CENTER ANNOUNCE
20^th ANnual GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP

Registration until April 29^th

BUFFALO—Mayor Byron Brown today joined Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul to announce the 20^th annual Great American Cleanup in Western New York. Volunteers are now able to register their Great American Cleanup events by telephone and email, because of a new partnership between Keep Western New York Beautiful and Mayor Brown’s 311 Call and Resolution Center. The Great American Cleanup will take place April 1–May 31, 2011.

 “The Great American Cleanup is an opportunity for residents to improve any areas in their neighborhoods that they wish were cleaner or greener,” said Mayor Brown. “The city will provide trash bags, gloves and graffiti wipes to cleanup participants. Last year, Western New York had nearly four thousand volunteers give over 13,000 hours to make our community better. I look forward to an even bigger turnout in 2011 for this collective effort throughout Western New York.”

Western New York’s Great American Cleanup is part of Buffalo’s use of volunteerism to help solve local challenges. Buffalo is a member of the Cities of Service, a bi-partisan coalition of the mayors of large and small cities from across our country, who respond to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act’s historic call to action by promoting volunteerism.

The Great American Cleanup is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, and is the nation’s largest community improvement program. Keep American Beautiful combines education and volunteerism to make America’s communities cleaner, greener, safer and more livable. In 2010, volunteers nationwide spent more than 5.7 million hours to clean, beautify and improve more than 33,000 communities, during more than 30,000 events, in all 50 states and beyond.

Cleanup events focus on litter prevention, recycling/waste reduction and beautification/community greening. Possible cleanup events include: beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, recycling collections, picking up litter, planting trees and flowers, and conducting educational programs and litter-free events.

To register an event for the Great American Cleanup:

1.    Pick a day between April 1 and May 31.

2.    Choose a place you'd like to clean up or green up. (i.e. street, school, park, beach, vacant lot)

3.    Tell your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.

4.    Register your event to get trash bags, gloves, posters, banners, brooms, rakes and shovels.

Erie County residents can register by phone or email. Residents should be prepared to provide their contact information (name, address, telephone number) as well as information about their event (date, time, place, and number of volunteers participating.

311 Call and Resolution Center representatives are available to register participants from 9:00AM to 4:00PM, Monday through Friday.

The last day to register by phone or e-mail is April 29, 2011.

Phone
Buffalo Residents: 3-1-1
Erie County Residents: (716) 851-4890

Email
311 Call and Resolution Center
http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/City_Departments/Citizens_Services/311_Self-Service

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