Augusta County receives $1,000 grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful

Augusta County local government and the Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office have received a grant award of $1,000 for its Litter Control Program from Keep Virginia Beautiful as part of its annual “30 in 30 Green Grants” one each day in the month of June, for a total of thirty grants.

The Augusta County Pre-Charge Diversion and Litter Control Program is a unique program operating out of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. It offers first time offenders of certain non-violent criminal offenses the opportunity to volunteer for the County’s Litter Control Program for a specified number of hours. The program gives participants an alternative to criminal charges by working to remove roadside litter. The program tracks the number of pre-charge participants, and their recidivism rate, as well as record the miles of road covered, and pounds of trash picked up.

“We appreciate this honor from Keep Virginia Beautiful, which shows that they value not only the positive influence of our program on the environment but also on the community,” said Caleb Kramer, assistant Commonwealth’s attorney and director of the Litter Control Program. “This grant greatly helps sustain the work of the program, keeping roads clean for everyone while streamlining the judicial process.”

In 2019, the program removed over 36,841 pounds of trash and 410 tires from nearly 200 miles of roadway and 41 pre-charge participants completed over 3,400 hours of work. The program started in March 2018.

Government, non-profit, civic and service organizations in Virginia were invited to apply for grants for $500 to $1,000 describing how they plan to tackle an environmental concern in their community regarding Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.

Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $230,000 for 290 different environmental projects and programs all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity this year of Altria, as well as additional support from Keep America Beautiful and Coca-Cola.

The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve our natural and scenic environment.