Missouri River Relief is a Columbia-based non-profit that has made a name for itself using volunteers to clean up trash - lots of trash - along the Big Muddy. Late last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the group an Environmental Education Grant. River relief staff Kristen Schulte and Steve Schnarr discussed plans for the award on a recent episode of Thinking Out Loud.
The $98,000 EPA grant to River Relief will fund a two-year project wherein the group seeks to "change peoples attitudes and change the way people interact with the environment," said Schnarr, the Program Director of Missouri River Relief.
The grant will allow the group to
...develop a network of individuals, organizations and teachers that will connect people to the Missouri River, develop an educators' workshop so they can take this stuff about the Missouri River back to their community, and a Missouri River academy, which is a week-long adventure program with high school and middle school students. Really immersing them in the Missouri River, the science and why it is important to their lives.
The EPA award also includes a fund that allows River Relief to give $500 to $5,000 "mini-grants to educators and river stewards that build connections between their schools and communities and the Missouri River," according to the Missouri River Relief website. The deadline for applications is March 25, 2016.
"There's a lot of people interested in the Missouri River and we just kind of think, maybe 'Not enough' and we need to sort of build on that," said Schnarr. "We're trying to find teachers, organizations and individuals along the river that want to take their passion for the river and built it up in their community."
New episodes of Thinking Out Loud air each Tuesday evening at 6:30 on 91.3FM KBIA.