RiverSweep celebrated a banner year and for the first time had more than 1000 volunteers participate! Between the 8 locations, we picked up 20 tons of trash and upwards of 1000 illegally-dumped tires. A HUGE thank you to all who showed up to help and also to our sponsors and supporters listed below:To view photos of this event by Dan Morgan and Nick Wagner, visit: http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/DanMorgan/Riversweep07
More to come...
ABOUT RIVERSWEEP
RiverSweep is Ohio Canal Corridor's 18th Annual, environmental awareness and clean-up initiative developed by Ohio Canal Corridor. The event partners multiple non-profit organizations with private companies to clean areas along the Cuyahoga River Valley and its tributaries. RiverSweep is a "done in a day" event where volunteers gather at one of seven designated areas:
eadway Ravine
RiverSweep stands out as Ohio's most successful environmental clean-up with teams of environmentally aware volunteers, community groups, non-profit organizations, government agencies and corporate partners clearing the river valleys of debris. RiverSweep cleans today,where tomorrow we will play. It has established a tradition of cleaning areas where new parks and extended trails will be built one day.
Examples of the new parks include Ohio Canal Corridor's Hart Crane Park in the Flats, Cleveland Metroparks Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation, Mill Creek Falls, and Washington Park Reservation. In process are the West Creek Greenway, Treadway Ravine in Cleveland, Walworth Run (Train Avenue), the extending Towpath Trail from lower Harvard Avenue through Tremont to Canal Basin Park in the northern Flats
For more information, call Tanya at 216-520-1825 or e-mail tstella@ohiocanal.org.
Thank you to our 2007 RiverSweep sponsors. If you are interested in sponsorship, please download our sponsorship brochure by clicking here.
CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT
In 2007, Ohio Canal Corridor welcomed the sponsorship and participation of the largest group of Ohio Companies and businesses in its histroy. Ford Motor Company enteredits fourth year of sponsoring this event. They contribute funding, people, supplies and even bring new prototypes hybrid cars to the celebratory lunch. Ford's invovement stems from personal involvement in the event from local Ford employees, including Dennis Turski.
It is yet another example of Ford's environmental interest in America's rivers. In Detroit, Ford is a leader in the Detroit American Heritage River program and has gone to great lengths in reclaiming their River Rouge Plant as a national model of brownfield remediation and sustainable redevelopment. Visit Ford's website to learn more. We thank Ford Motor Company and the many other businesses and organizations who recognize the importance of creating and sustaining our linear heritage greenway (Ohio & Erie Canalway) that is developing in NE Ohio. With their help and support, RiverSweep and the Ohio & Erie Canalway benefit.
The employees from Cargill have been involved with RiverSweep for the past 4 years by cleaning the area in the Flats and being the official Flats site sponsor. For the second straight year, the Cargill Cares Council chose RiverSweep as a beneficiary of a corporate sponsorship.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District also came aboard in 2007 as a presenting sponsor and site leader. It may seem obvious - their interest in an effort to help water quality like RiverSweep; yet, they brought more than funding to our operation. They brought voulunteers and management skills as they took control and managed the cleanup along Mill Creek and the Falls, inviting other companies to join them.
To these and all the others companies and sponsors and volunteers, we thank you for helping us on another banner year.
For companies and organizations interested in the 2008 RiverSweep sponsorship opportunities or other events, call Tanya at 216-520-1825.
ABOUT THE FROGS
Early on, Ohio Canal Corridor sought a logo that would fit the cleanup program, RiverSweep. Artist Tom Yurcich gave us that image - 2 frogs dancing on a lilly pad - hoisting crowns. The tag line we used in those early days was "First we clean it. Then, we crown it!" Frogs were chosen as they play a role in judging healthy eco-systems. Their presence is a positive sign. We retain that original image as our logo, but decided in our 15th year to add more color and imagery. This led us to our current marketing solution - to add art into our formula. To idnetify a recognizable piece of art and "frogisize" it. We began with "Mona Leapa", followed with "The Scream" and in 2007 - "Amphibian Gothic." We recognize the artsy talents of George Coghill for these recent contributions.
