Programs and Projects
2024 – 2025
Take a look below at the major projects and programs we have planned for the upcoming year. We need your support through donations and participation to get them done. Every dollar counts in cleaning up our inland waterways.
American River Rangers
This program encourages youth to learn about and participate in the cleanup movement. Starting with the seabird population, which is at the lowest level since the Audubon society started recording in 1831. This bird population is being wiped out because of single-use plastic, mainly bottle tops. The birds eat them, can’t digest them and they starve. A.R.R. has discovered there are millions of bottle tops littered across this country in every park and playground. They’re too small to pick up with hand grabbers and caretakers don’t bother picking them up… but the birds do. One of this nationwide program’s goals is to recruit youth, ages 4-14, to participate in a national cleanup movement.
FREE Educational Posters
- Make Art Not Trash (featuring Harry from A.K.A. Bad Plastic Book)
- Hi, I’m Harry
- Did you know it’s raining plastic
- Every Piece of Plastic Ever Made Still Exists
- Ocean Trash Poster
The link below will take you to a Google Drive folder.
A.K.A. Bad Plastic Program
Our environmental education program combines plastic pollution prevention, education, and recovery all in one package. Corporations or individuals can support a school district. We provide each individual school with the tools necessary, (A.R.R. children’s books/posters/drain markers/stickers, etc.), for further education on the harmful effects of single-use plastics that have a negative impact on our environment, our wildlife, and ourselves. Please help us, you can support one school or a thousand, but we must educate our youth about this poison that is destroying this planet.
The Texas Tire Pile
On our river cleanups on the Rio Grande, we are recovering massive amounts of auto tires, up to 100+ per mile of river. But during these cleanups we’ve noticed there are zero on the Mexico side of the river. Plenty of trash, but no tires. As you know auto tires are made with up to 25-40 percent plastic. We finally figured out the reason the tires are along the river on our side is that the local municipalities restrict them and the closest tire recycling facility is a 16-hour drive away in Houston, Texas. We also figured out why there were no tires on the Mexico side, it’s because the largest tire recycling facility in North America is only 10 miles away from the river in Juarez, Mexico, and they purchase used tires to recycle into rubber crumb for playgrounds. (Another bad idea!) We have contacted this recycler and they will pick up the tires for free if they’re in a central location with loading capabilities. A small amount of funding can get this done, and we’ll prevent these tires from getting into the Gulf of Mexico where they will be lost forever.
If you would like to be a part of this, please contact Chris directly.
Kitchen33’s Bakery Project
NEWS FLASH!!! A.R.R. has opened a restaurant to show other restaurants that you can be environmentally responsible and still make a profit, by avoiding all single-use plastics and recycling. www.kitchen33.org
Back to the point, we have partnered with Beyond Boundaries, located in Richmond, Virginia, a wonderful non-profit 501c3 that specializes in working with people with autism and down syndrome. They affect the lives of over a thousand people a year, and they are phenomenal at what they do. Currently, the restaurant industry is devastated from a lack of workers. We have developed a pilot program to build out a 2,000 sq. ft. bakery/training center underneath our restaurant where we can teach the skills of baking. The graduates would go through a job placement program to be hired at local restaurants or go through our instructor program to teach their own classes in our facility. These programs are dear to our hearts and will be implemented by January 1st, 2023.
Chickahominy Environmental Park
A.R.R. is developing a 60-acre environmental park, with a ½ mile of river frontage, plus miles of walking trails, running alongside the Chickahominy river. This stretch of river has everything from beautiful waterfalls to kayak-able water. Due to the many different local plant and animal species, there will be several living classrooms for schools to utilize and they will be dedicated to education. This park will be handicapped accessible and the first of its kind. We will utilize court-ordered community service workers and our local scouts to help maintain this environmental park. We have already acquired half of the property needed and we need a sponsor to help us the rest of the way to secure the other half. The location of this park is at the end of Trail of Tears Ln. in Hanover, Virginia.