A Time for Celebration
he Kent Environmental Council was founded 40 years ago this year as a positive local response to the degradation of our environment, particularly the appalling condition of the Cuyahoga River, which had caught fire in Cleveland.
In 1970, KEC members joined in cleaning up the Cuyahoga River and providing public access where it courses through downtown Kent. The following year, KEC started a recycling program both to reduce the waste stream and fund the river cleanup.
1970 Cuyahoga River clean-up
Fast forward to 2010. We now have a network of local hike-and-bike trails, new county parks, countywide recycling, and a clean, freely flowing Cuyahoga River where blue herons can be seen nailing their lunch. People flock to Heritage Park in downtown Kent, where the river was rerouted around the arched Kent dam, preserving the historic structure. KEC as an organization and its members were involved at many levels during the endless meetings, public hearings and public discussions necessary to achieve these outcomes.
In 2006, KEC members John and Betty Mitchell generously remembered KEC in a bequest that KEC, with the Portage Foundation, has made into a Legacy for Learning Fund that has supported educational materials for the Portage Park District, a worm-farm project for students at Stanton Middle School, water monitoring devices for the environmental science class at Kent Roosevelt High School, and a number of other student environmental projects.
In honor of KEC's 40th year, the board has voted to launch a fund-raising campaign to replenish the Legacy for Learning Fund to con-tinue this small local grant program and help to carry a strong environmental ethic into the future. We invite our friends and supporters to consider a contribution of any amount to this fund.
Checks may be made out to Portage Foundation
with a notation for Legacy for Learning in the memo line.
Mail to:
The Portage Foundation
138 E. Main St., Suite 201C, Kent, OH 44240
Thank you for your support…past, present and future.
