Author: David Nicholson

To all the volunteers who helped at MEVO’s previous Catherine Avenue event, thank you. Without your hard day’s work we would not have been able to remove half-rotted couches, huge chunks of plastic, and a barrel of oil–that is a fact right there– that helped clean-up Catherine Avenue a lot. You are our super volunteers, and we hope to see you at future events.

This is Kei Thurber one of MEVO’s Summer Crew members. She finished her internship with us on August 6th, but from the time she was here she was a super hard worker–from building an organic farm to painting a recycling bin, Kei has done a little bit of everything here at MEVO. We at MEVO, wish her the best of luck in the future, and though her internship is over, we will still see Kei at our volunteer events! Keep on volunteering for the environment Kei, and thank you for your amazing work.

Behold, everybody: Tyler Brooke. He was one of the MVV’s (Most Valuable Voluteers) of the Catherine Avenue clean-up this past Saturday. Although it was his first time volunteering with MEVO. He volunteered with flying colors—removing old metal sheds from the Ramapo river, carrying woodedn beams as long as pick-up trucks, and wading through the river picking up tires like it was NOTHING. Couches, barrels of oil, these were just a few of the unique treasures Tyler, and other volunteers pulled from polluted woods. Good job Tyler and GREAT JOB MEVO.

I’d like to say welcome—to the MEVO Shed. You see MEVO may not have a high-rise office building or 100K salaries for its staff, but it does have this excellent quality shed. This shed serves as the base where we store our trash pickers and other environmental do-goodery tools. Thank you Pony Power Therapies for this awesome shed. We shall use it well.

See the Great Wall of Bins? Well as of this week, 45 of these bins have been given to the Hillsdale Green Team and the Paramus Environmental Commission so they can be distributed throughout both towns. Paramus, Hillsdale, MEVO thanks you for taking a stand for the environment and recycling in your towns. You guys rock! And for the volunteers who came at last Saturday’s event to paint these bins and prepare milk crates for MEVO’s Farm to Live project, so they could be distributed Saturday’s event, thank you as well. Without you, the Great Wall of Bins would not have been possible.

Attention everyone! MEVO is about to do the ultimate trash pick-up this Saturday at Catherine Avenue in Mahwah, New Jersey. As of now, Catherine Ave is not a pretty place to look at. Plastic, trash, tires and many more nasty things have built up in this forested area, and have been washed into the Ramapo River tainting Bergen County’s water supply, hurting the wildlife, and damaging the scarce conserved and natural space available in New Jersey. That, to say the least, is a problem. But this Saturday MEVO is going to take this problem on and repair the damage to Catherine Ave with our bare hands in what’s going to be one of the largest trash pickups in MEVO history. Let’s clean up this trash together! We have the ability, we have the people, to make a huge difference in the lives of our communities just by coming out for this momentous event.

Would you like to know more?

Click the link for details

https://www.facebook.com/events/341478685932138/

Guys, MEVO just helped renovate the future headquarters of the New York/ New Jersey Trail Conference – the Darlington Schoolhouse! Earlier this month, MEVO volunteers were tasked with helping clear the Schoolhouse, labeled a New Jersey state historical site, of weeds, crabgrass, and lots of underbrush. As you can see, by the picture we did a pretty decent job of that. So thank you all, MEVO volunteers for making it happen. MEVO will be doing more events for the rest of this month and August, such as tree plantings and an event featuring over 50 volunteers! So come on down. Let’s make some MEVO history happen.

Attention, all artists. On June 24th 2012 MEVO distributed 10 of its recycling bins at the Haverstraw Farmers Market, with a twist. Children first painted these bins in whatever they wanted—in red, yellow, and nearly every other color in the rainbow—and then the parents took the children back home along with their child’s brand new bin masterpiece. It’s a great tactic, for no parent wants to leave their child’s artwork behind. To date MEVO has given away 117 bins and still has plenty left. So the question is, what will you do with your bin? Will you make it a toy container, a recycling bin, or something more? The choice is yours.

It’s been four years since this photos was taken. Since then MEVO has grown from the dream of two high school students into a certified non-profit that has been recognized by organizations as wide and varied as New York University and the North Face Planet Explorer’s Fund. We have started a community farm and are planning to create another one soon, have 12 interns this summer and are planning to hire a full time administrator, and are in short growing faster than ever before. The past four years have been great, but the next four years any more ahead, will be even better.