Each year, $50,000 in Make a Splash grants is awarded to community groups working to protect our environment. Read more about the work they have done to protect and restore water quality in Tacoma. View 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003.
First Presbyterian Church School – K-5 Water Education Field Trips
$998
Educational field trips for kindergartners through fifth-graders will expose and educate the children and their families to the hazards of water pollution to our environment. For more information, or to get involved, contact Jan Brown, bfix@fpcschool.org or (253) 272-7145.
Lutheran Community Services – Environmental Impact Ad Campaign
$2,500
A public service ad campaign will cover the impacts seniors make on surface water resources by their choices in the garden and around the home and provide a list of environmental groups and organizations that seniors can volunteer with to protect surface water resources. This ad campaign would target Tacoma area residents age 55 and older in the September 2007 edition and would include a two-page layout. Readership for this campaign would be approximately 32,000 Tacoma/Pierce County residents. For more information, or to get involved, contact Bonnie Dickson, bdickson@lcsnw.org or (253) 722-5687.
Tahoma Audubon Society – Shorebird Educational Kits
$1,750
Tahoma Audubon will purchase material and bird specimens to take to groups and classrooms in Tacoma to educate people of all ages about shorebirds and their dependence on the shoreline and water quality. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Bryan Flint, BryanFlint@TahomaAudubon.org or (253) 565-9129.
Reach House Child Care Center – Snake Lake Park
$440
Children will take an environmental walk through Snake Lake Park to explore plants and other natural resources. Our goal is to make the children aware of aspects of nature, such as flowers and other parts of nature that make up our environment. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Rosemary Pargoud, twobutone@juno.com or (253) 756-0597.
Safe Streets S. Verde and Stevens – Delong Park Restoration Project
$2,500
By restoring wetland educational signs and providing a new garbage can in the park, this project will reduce the amount of garbage produced by park visitors that contributes to spoiling the Delong surface waters and wetlands. The wetland signs will also educate park visitors about the value of wetlands. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Cathy Cruver, tcruver@comcast.net or (253) 752-9222.
South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG)
Bioscience Education and Research Consulting (BERC) LLC
Sage Garden Designs – Sound Gardens Save Salmon (SGSS) Project
$2,495
Sound Gardens Save Salmon (SGSS) is a project that is committed to increasing awareness in, and a commitment to, environmental stewardship in the children and families of the Lowell School community. In particular, SGSS will teach the children about the direct link between gardening and watershed health. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Jacqueline Elliott, spsseg@spsseg.org or (360) 412-0808.
Puget Creek Restoration Society – Puget and Mason Creek Restoration and Study Project
$2,500
This project will involve eradication of invasive plant species and replanting with native vegetation in the Puget Creek Watershed, as well as conducting macro-invertebrate sampling in Puget and Mason Creeks. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Scott Hansen, pugetcreek@yahoo.com or (253) 779-8890.
Community Based Services - Edison C.A.R.E.’s Action Team – Edison Clean Water Project
$2,500
The Clean Water Project will promote environmentally friendly chemicals and water protective behaviors around the neighborhood. The project will provide “Clean Water” tips in various forms of literature such as flyers, newsletters, mailings and the Edison Blast e-mail flyer. We will also reward neighbors with environmentally friendly prizes for the “Yard of the Month” and “Most Improved Yard” program including yard care kits with alternatives to toxic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, native plants, and yard tools to use instead of applying landscaping chemicals. Finally, we will offer free car care flyers with information about oil changing services, car wash kits, and the most water-safe practices for disposal of car-related toxins. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Mary Beth Riggs, mriggs@cityoftacoma.org or (253) 591-5160.
Puget Sound Car Wash Association – Charity Car Wash Busboards
$2,500
Nonprofit groups, such as sports teams, church groups, and scout troops, hold car wash fundraisers in parking lots around the Puget Sound. We will provide a bus-board campaign to educate fundraising groups in the City of Tacoma that parking lot charity car washes have a negative impact on water quality, and offer the Puget Sound Car Wash Association’s Car Wash Fundraiser ticket program as an alternative. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Elly Snow, carwashassoc@qwest.net or (206) 622-8425.
Tacoma Nature Center, Metro Parks Tacoma – Nature Center Self-Guided Tour Program
$2,121
Many schools, day care facilities and scout groups use the Tacoma Nature Center as a field trip site. Although most are able to book a guided tour, roughly 25% of field trips to the Nature Center are self-guided. In order to facilitate a quality field trip for these groups, the Tacoma Nature Center would like to develop a self-guided tour program. This program would include pre and post-trip activities, on-site curriculum and equipment that groups can use while they are on-site. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Michele Cardinaux, Michele@tacomaparks.com or (253) 591-6439.
Tacoma Nature Center, Metro Parks Tacoma – Water Sleuths III
$2,500
This program focuses on using the inquiry method and emphasizes a holistic approach to a student’s role in the watershed. We would like to offer another round of subsidized programs to City of Tacoma schools for the 2007-08 school years. This time our advertising and acceptance priorities would target schools that were not able to participate previously. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Michele Cardinaux, Michele@tacomaparks.com or (253) 591-6439.
Bryant Montessori Middle School – Watershed Stewardship Program
$2,500
This program will develop and teach a middle school, project-based hydrology and stream ecology class with an emphasis on watershed stewardship. Studies will include classroom instruction about macro-invertebrates, water quality, and sampling techniques for studying them. Work at Swan Creek will be incorporated in the curriculum and will include ongoing restoration projects as directed by Friends of Swan Creek. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Wynne Brown, wynneb@nventure.com
Citizens for a Healthy Bay – Jr. Bay Rangers
$2,500
The Jr. Bay Ranger Program is designed to engage Tacoma’s children in CHB’s mission to “cleanup, protect and restore” Commencement Bay. Building on the interest and requests to reinstate the Jr. Bay Rangers Program, CHB would again like to offer an active program for students by having supervised and organized activities, and asking children to help educate their communities. The target audience is some 30 children between the ages of 9 and 11 (grades 4-5) who live in Tacoma’s Hilltop community. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Linda McCrystal, lmccrystal@healthybay.org or (253) 383-2429.
My Service Mind of Northwest – Awareness of Stormwater Pollution
$2,500
MSM will organize a curb marking event and a carwash using a Clean Bay Car Wash Kit provided by Public Works Environmental Services. Our goal is to educate youth and adults of various ages and ethnic backgrounds about current concerns and the environmental impact resulting from stormwater pollution. The participants will become aware of the issues pertaining to stormwater pollution and take equal partnership in preserving our surface waters and the aquatic life contained within them. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Mandy Ma, mymsm@cs.com or (253) 584-5615.
CIVITAS, an organization at the University of Washington-Tacoma – UWT Community Garden-Water Harvesting
$2,000
Students at the University of Washington-Tacoma have come up with a water harvesting setup that will harvest in excess of 500 gallons of rainwater a year. When built, this rainwater collector will be used to educate the community on how to properly collect rainwater, how rainwater harvesting is sustainable and good for the environment, and will be used to keep our garden alive. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Russel Harper, russelh@u.washington.edu or (253) 222-8993.
HFJ Community Services/Friends of Swan Creek Watershed – Swan Creek Salmon Guides Pilot Project
$2,500
Project elements will include the development of a salmon docent curriculum/training series (with classroom and field work), recruitment and training of volunteer docents, development of Swan Creek Salmon Guide Kits, informal and formal tours of Swan Creek Park during the salmon spawning season, and development of printed educational material for use with the public. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Sue Bernstein, sue.b@prodigy.net or (253) 472-7264.
Bellarmine Preparatory School – Bellarmine Student Environmental Educational Program
$1,500
For 15 years Bellarmine students have been doing water quality analysis of both the Snake Lake Wetlands and the Titlow Marine Sanctuary. The spectrophotometer to analyze the water samples taken by the students monthly from Titlow and seasonally from Snake Lake needs to be replaced. We will use the grant to purchase a new spectrophotometer to continue our student research of the two environments. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Ron Nilsen, nilsenr@bellarmineprep.org or (253) 756-3841.
6th Avenue Merchants Association – Giant Magical Salmon
$650
The Zambini Brothers will bring their Giant Magical Salmon Puppet to Art on the Ave 07. We will have volunteers available to hand out flyers regarding storm drains and keeping pollutants out of Puget Sound. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Claudia Riedener, ixia@harbornet.com or (253) 274-0655.
St. Patrick School – Salmon in the School
$625
The school will receive 500 eggs from a designated hatchery and care for “our” salmon while learning about life histories and habitat requirements. Curriculum from Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife will be used. In collaboration with staff, K-8 students will become salmon stewards. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Laurie Sukola lsukola@saintpats.org or (253) 272-2297.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department – 2008 Tacoma-Pierce County Children’s Water Festival
$2,500
The Tacoma-Pierce County Children’s Water Festival is an annual event dedicated to educating and motivating fifth-grade students to care for our water resources. More than 1,300 students will learn about water conservation and protection through a wide variety of interactive educational presentaitions. Hands-on classroom activities include “Incredible Edible Aquifer,” “Water In Water Out,” “Save the Salmon,” and many more. Before and after the Festival, teachers are provided with educational material to reinforce the importance of water and related natural resources. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Michele Cox, mcox@tpchd.org or (253) 798-7683.
43rd Street Neighborhood Block Watch – Name that Gulch
$2,500
Our goal is to educate each other on the need for behavioral change and discourage illegal dumping and polluting in the gulch. This project will involve removal of all types of debris, removal of non-native invasive plants, and replanting indigenous species that are better suited for our urban forests. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Rose Perrino, (253) 472-8434.
YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County – YMCA Earth Service Corps (YESC)
$700
Our projects will promote YMCA Earth Service Corps values through service projects such as volunteering at the Water Festival, protecting Salmon habitats and stream restoration. Teen leadership is encouraged and promoted through every project. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Liz Kajko, lkajko@ymcatacoma.org or (253) 460-8846.
BYTM (Building Youth through Music) – Water Watch
$550
Create a five-page coloring book related to preventing stormwater pollution which will reinforce the importance of cleaning up after your pet and washing your car on the lawn which will decrease the amount of polluted storm water runoff. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Frederick J. Davis, jdee@rodneyraccoon.com or (253) 627-1899.
Message Magazine Group – Community Environmental Education
$2,500
We will design and print public service announcements including environmental justice information through Message Magazine for a 6-month environmental education campaign. We have gathered information to educate the communities of Tacoma on environmental justice and what they can do to prevent pollution including: preventing water pollution, reducing waste, reusing things, recycling and how to access information about the City of Tacoma Public Works. For more information, or to get involved in this program, contact Korbett C. Mosesly, kmosesly@comcast.net or (253) 538-9996.
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