The Reedy Recap
Friends of the Reedy River
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Hello, Friends! You may have noticed a few new things in our 2023 monthly newsletter. In January, we gave it a new name: The Reedy Recap. We also started a "Board Member Highlight" to give our community a glimpse of the fantastic people who work hard behind the scenes. In this month's Reedy Recap we have included a Sponsor Spotlight section that showcases local businesses who provide financial support to our organization by sponsoring our monthly newsletter. In our continuing effort to make this newsletter as informative and compelling as possible for our followers, we introduce a new regular feature: Why We Do What We Do. This feature may be about a new local project we are pursuing, an informative article regarding plastic usage, or even a deep dive into the history of the Reedy River. You'll just have to read it to get the inside scoop! | |
Upcoming Events & Volunteer Opportunities | |
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Water Quality Monitoring Outings: TBD in mid-May
The Greenville and Simpsonville water quality monitoring teams will head to the river for water quality sampling in mid-May. Updates will be announced on our social media and in our Monitoring Team Email. Please contact us if you are interested in joining and Join Our Monitoring Team to receive future updates!
Laurens County Cleanup - May 5
Support our friends at Keep Laurens County Beautiful in their first-ever Reedy River Cleanup-Greenup Day! Find more information and register here!
BMW CPA Golf Tournament: June 5-11
The BMW Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament is the week of June 5th. FoRR is leading the Green Team volunteers again in their efforts to operate as a zero-waste event! Register here.
McPherson and Unity Park Restoration Walks: May and June
Friends of the Reedy River will be leading a series of walking tours to share the stream restoration efforts completed within the City of Greenville. These walks will be free and open to the public. Stay tuned for details!
Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Workshop - June 29
FoRR Adopt-a-Stream Trainers will be leading a Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Workshop in Greenville on June 29. Registration details will be announced soon. Spaces are limited. Join Our Monitoring Team to be the first to learn more!
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See the latest water quality data HERE!
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Sponsor Spotlight:
Bricolage Dynamics
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Friends of the Reedy River is proud to have the support of our local business community to help us continue our mission of protecting, preserving, and restoring our hometown river. This month we would like to highlight one of our sponsors, Bricolage Dynamics. Bricolage Dynamics started in South Carolina to provide a reliable glass recycling service for the Greenville region. Glass that was once headed to a landfill is now being collected from households and a variety of companies to be turned into high-quality sustainable sand for re-use in the local construction, landscaping, and business industries. Visit www.bricdynamics.com to learn more. | |
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April 1
2023 Spring Cleanup Final Numbers
| We want to give a huge shoutout to all of our amazing volunteers who participated in our 2023 Spring River Cleanup on April 1. Together, with 180 volunteers across six different sites in the Reedy Watershed (Riverside Apartments, S. Hudson Street, Cancer Survivors Park, Woodland Way Corridor, Log Shoals Road, and Laurens County), we removed over 5,100 pounds (over 2.5 tons!) of litter! Well done! We thank all of you who came out to clean your hometown river. | |
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April 5
FoRR Service Project with Veritas
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FoRR led 6th-grade students from the Veritas Preparatory School on a litter cleanup along the Swamp Rabbit Trail where they found several plastic bags, Styrofoam cups, and an old rusty bicycle. We love doing service projects with Veritas because they are hard workers and they really want to make a difference in our community.
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April 8
TCMU Spring & Sprout Event
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FoRR participated in The Children's Museum of the Upstate's Spring & Sprout event. It was a fun and educational opportunity for families to celebrate the spring season with special themed programming around conservation. We had such a great time making new connections with the next generation of conservationists and teaching them all about how to keep our watershed healthy and clean. | |
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April 20
RMSC Earth Day Celebration
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Friends of the Reedy River ran the rainwater runoff simulator exhibit at the Roper Mountain Science Center's Afternoon Exploration "Earth Day Celebration." The simulator shows the impacts of runoff and the importance of a healthy riparian buffer zone. We also displayed preserved macroinvertebrates and let people examine them through a magnifying glass. What a great way to meet all of the future scientists! | |
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April 23
Orvis National Cleanup Day
and GiveBack Days for FoRR
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FoRR partnered with Orvis for their National Cleanup Day at Linky Stone Park. Their amazing staff and volunteers collected litter from the Reedy and on the banks by the Children's Garden.
Please visit the downtown Greenville Orvis store on N. Main Street during the month of May for their GiveBack Days. They are offering a 10% discount for a minimum $10 donation. All proceeds go to Friends of the Reedy River! We are so appreciative of Orvis for their commitment to helping restore and preserve our local watershed.
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April 24
Forever Green Luncheon
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Friends of the Reedy River board and staff attended Upstate Forever's "Forever Green Luncheon" yesterday, celebrating their 25th anniversary where they honored several individuals for their dedicated service and advocacy for water and land protection. FoRR was recognized as a Cedar Sponsor, and we are so proud to have them as an environmental partner. | |
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April 28
SC Adopt-a-Stream Freshwater Water Quality Monitoring Workshop
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On Friday, April 28, FoRR led a SC Adopt-a-Stream Freshwater Monitoring workshop at the Cancer Survivors Park Center for Hope and Healing. Volunteers received classroom instruction and in-the-field experience during this full-day workshop. Thank you to all of the dedicated citizen scientists who attended! | |
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Friends of the Reedy River has the unique opportunity to lead Green Team sustainability volunteers at the BMW Charity Pro-Am’s 2023 golf tournament. In 2021, the BMWCPA became the first and only of 22 Korn Ferry golf tournament events to commit to elimination of litter, single use waste, and landfill material. FoRR was one of the first to step up in support of this undertaking. (Following BMW’s Upstate manufacturing operation’s example of receiving ISO14001 certification of its green manufacturing processes, the BMWCPA’s goal is to achieve Golf Environmental Organization certification. GEO is an international non-profit dedicated to advancing sustainability in golf.)
Involvement in this event helps FoRR tangibly and intangibly; including enabling us to reach a larger audience to support our efforts on behalf of the Reedy River, having direct contact with many other like-minded Upstate organizations, and connecting with one of the Upstate's largest charitable organizations and having a seat at its Sustainability Roundtable. It is an opportunity for FoRR to engage in a one-of-a-kind, industry-leading endeavor being undertaken by the charity arm of one of the area's largest employers
The major tangible benefit to FoRR is a substantial financial commitment by the BMWCPA to FoRR’s operational budget as compensation for our efforts in leading Green Team volunteers (plus a $50 donation for each Green Team shift worked to the volunteers’ nonprofits of their choice).
For our part, FoRR is recruiting/registering volunteers to work a series of 200 four-hour shifts at two area golf courses during the week of the BMWCPA; then scheduling and managing their work of collecting waste and recyclables during the tournament. We hope you can join us. Register here.
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Greenville, SC native Dick Stelling joins the Friends Of the Reedy River Board of Directors, fulfilling his lifelong interests in family and community, and the quality of life we each contribute. Upon his retirement as a Regional Sales Manager for 3M after more than 25 years of employment, Dick began to show a deeper passion and sought more involvement in volunteerism. Since 2016, he has helped the FORR organization cultivate the gardens along the Swamp Rabbit Trail behind First Baptist Church of Greenville. Dick is an active member of First Baptist Church Greenville, where he volunteers at the AYMC, the Savers Committee, Scholarship Committee, Operation Backpack, and Garden Friends. He is also involved in the United Ministries and activities at Sterling School, where his late wife, Jane, taught. It was while attending Furman University when he and Jane met, both graduating. They have three sons and four grandchildren. Additionally, Dick especially enjoys walking, Pawleys Island, working in the yard and rooting for the Paladins.
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Q: How did you get involved with FoRR?
A: Former FoRR board member (and now Save Our Saluda board member) Melanie Ruhlman asked me if I'd like to work on a riparian buffer project along the Reedy behind our church, First Baptist Greenville. It was back in 2016 when I had just retired from 3M and had more time to volunteer. I jumped at the opportunity thinking it was a church project, and then when I found out that it was actually with Friends of the Reedy River, I decided to join the board.
Q: What's your idea of a perfect day in Greenville?
A: My perfect day in Greenville would be sitting in Paladin Stadium watching a Furman football game. I love seeing the view of Paris Mountain and the beautiful fall foliage.
Q: What is the most unusual thing you have ever found during a cleanup in the Reedy River?
A: A mannequin. Just about scared me to death!
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