Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup

Barb Proctor introduced the Club to the District's Environmental Action Committee, established this Rotary Year as part of Rotary International's newest area of focus Supporting the Environment with an April kickoff tied in with the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup. There are ten Rotarians throughout the District on this newly established committee who will promote tangible actions related to the environment and sustainability. Barb encouraged the Club to get involved with the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup event when over 20,000 Rotarians on both sides of the Canadian and U.S. border will roll up their sleeves to collect refuse along the shoreline, and innumerable waterway tributaries to the Great Lakes basin. This is great example of ‘ROTARY IN ACTION’ and brings considerable community attention to the importance of ‘ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY’

The District 7070 Environmental Action Committee is leading the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup Initiative, as it gets rolled out right across our District. This is an initiative hatched by our District 7070 Governor Mark Chipman, with his fellow District Governors surrounding the Great Lakes. Mark is very excited about the potential for this event and here's why..... It’s actually huge – with 15 districts involved – 500 Clubs & 20,000 Rotarians. The District has just announced that this initiative has been extended through to June 1st for clubs to participate, due to the recent provincial "emergency brake".

The Rotary Club of Belleville under the leadership of Sam Reid will be participating in this initiative and more details will be communicated by Samantha once known what it will look like. We will be focusing on the waterfront trail and Moira River cleanup. Wear waterproof footwear, wear a mask, bring gloves, take photos. The District wants to know how much garbage has been collected locally.