MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — The Third Annual Love Your Community Earth Day Celebration will be held Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Charles Wood Japanese Garden (700 Forest Hill Drive, Mobile AL 36608).

Love Your Community’s 2024 Earth Day Celebration is presented by the Mobile County Commission and supported by the Gulf Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council and others.

This FREE event features vendors, food trucks, lawn games, live music, an electric vehicle car show, nature walks, eco-friendly activities, and fun for the whole family, including recycled art projects for children by the Mobile Museum of Art.  See the full schedule of events and sponsor listing at https://link.edgepilot.com/s/01da98bf/qv9o-J18LUe0f57VBck6oA?u=https://www.mobilecountyal.gov/loveyourcommunity/earth-day-2024/

At noon, four teams will each be awarded Love Your Community grants of $1,500 each.

What is Love Your Community?

The Love Your Community program is funded by the Mobile County Commission operated through a partnership with Keep Mobile Beautiful, and engaged with Clean Water Future and Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust. Funding for the program is provided, in part, by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA). The Love Your Community program is a litter reduction effort spearheaded by District 2 Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson. More than 150 teams are currently participating in Love Your Community litter-reduction activities.

How does the Love Your Community grant program work?

• Sign up by registering a team at https://link.edgepilot.com/s/a901f069/eQwkWf0dL0eZ3lAKXiZAkQ?u=http://www.loveyourcommunity.com/  and scheduling ongoing clean-up activities in a defined area of Mobile County as determined by the team. The area can be inside municipal limits or in an unincorporated portion of the County.
• Request clean-up supplies from Love Your Community, including litter grabbers, vests, gloves, and disposable trash bags from Love Your Community.
• Conduct ongoing approved activities like litter pick up and disposal, community clean-up efforts, volunteering at recycling centers, or hosting recycling events and beautification projects.
• Time Bank volunteer hours by documenting team activity through https://link.edgepilot.com/s/a901f069/eQwkWf0dL0eZ3lAKXiZAkQ?u=http://www.loveyourcommunity.com/.
  Volunteer hours are held in the Love Your Community Time Bank and continue to accumulate until requirements allow deposits to be exchanged for grant funding.
• Claim grants for beautification projects as the team reaches time-banking hours milestones for grants of $500, $1,000, or $1,500.
• Document the approved project for which the grant funding was used.

For the LYC and time-banking program descriptions and information, team registration, and frequently asked questions visit https://link.edgepilot.com/s/a901f069/eQwkWf0dL0eZ3lAKXiZAkQ?u=http://www.loveyourcommunity.com/, call 251-444-7144, or email [email protected].