April 10, 2001 – The prestigious 2001 Environmental Quality Award of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 has been won by the Boys and Girls Club of the Bovoni Weed and Seed program for its island cleanup projects.
Program director Zelda Williams was greeted with the news after returning from a training session in Atlanta this weekend. "I was aware we were nominated, and I was excited, but not entirely surprised," she said. But the enthusiasm in her voice belied her words.
The barely two-year-old program is funded by the U.S. Justice Department and administered by the V.I. Housing Authority. Among its many projects is a fledgling scuba-diving club, which contributed to winning the award.
"Six divers worked at an ocean cleanup at Bolongo," Williams said. "They are all part of the diving class. And then we had another cleanup of the area with the hotel association, a joint effort with about 25 to 30 kids of all ages."
And that was hardly all. Members of the Keystone Club, an entity within the program, took it upon themselves to clean the long road leading up to the Bovoni Community Center, where the program is based. "The road was awful, really covered with trash," Williams noted. In addition, program particpants routinely clean up in the often-cluttered Bovoni area.
Williams said she expects to launch the program's computer lab, a project she has been working on for more than a year, in June. "Some of the top Weed and Seed officials will be down for that" from the mainland, she said.
Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen said in a releast that this is the third year in a row the territory has won such awards.
"I am proud of our young people and proud of the Boys and Girls Club and am pleased that they will be recognized nationally for their efforts to keep our environment clean," she said. "I hope their award will be an example to other young people that good works are, indeed, awarded."
EPA's Region 2 has four districts — New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Jim Casey, head of the EPA office for the Virgin Islands, said the number of awards varies year to year, "and sometimes the Virgin Islands has gotten more than New York." He said he didn't have details on all of this year's awards but understood that each district had received "at least one."
Williams said EPA officials will come to St. Thomas to present the award at a ceremony later this month.
Nominees for the Environmental Quality Award are chosen from a number of categories. They include nonprofit organizations; individual citizens; environmental, business and industry, and government groups; tribal agencies and the news media.
Last year's V.I. winners were St. Thomas's Coral World Marine Park and Undersea Observatory in the business and industry category and St. Croix environmentalist Olasee Davis in the individual category. Also last year, the 1999 awards were formally presented to Errol Chichester and Sherry Tietelman for their composting education program for the St. Croix Anti Litter and Beautification Commission.
