New Jersey Litter Free Seminar and Awards Banquet

It was a true pleasure and honor getting to spend time in Princeton, NJ last week. The good folks from Clifton, NJ invited Take Pride in America® to join them at the New Jersey Litter Free Seminar to discuss the successful partnership between Clifton and Take Pride.

Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi shared his speaking time with Justin Kintz (of TPIA) and both parties discussed the merits of linking a city and its citizens to Take Pride in America. It was a unique dual perspective as both the city and the program were represented and both sides were shared.

Justin also had the opportunity to award two of Clifton's finest volunteers with the President's Volunteer Service Award. Both Cheryl Mauro and Cheryl Schweighardt of Clifton, NJ, qualified for the Gold level of the award - amassing over 500 hours of service in the last year alone.

Cheryl Mauro led her Girl Scout and Brownie troops to clean parks, plant trees and flowers. She also painted fish and other animals around catch basins to alert the public on non-point source pollution to New Jersey Waterways. Over 850 hours of volunteer work have gone into these projects and many others, the last year alone.

Cheryl Schweighardt earned this award by transforming a littered intersection near her home in Clifton. She cleaned up the large amounts of refuse, made a park out of the large island in the intersection, laid stonework, planted flowers and provided a beautiful and visible example of community action.

Special thanks to Clifton Clean Communities Coordinator Al Dubois for his vision and perpetual care for public lands. Thanks also to Clifton City Manager Al Greco and Mayor James Anzaldi for their commitment to the Take Pride in America program and to their tremendous citizens. We hope that the rest of New Jersey and the United States replicates the great Clean Communities success that Clifton has achieved.



Justin Kintz presenting Cheryl Schweighardt with a Presidential Volunteer Service Award