Nature Abounds has been awarded a $356,884 grant from DEP’s Growing Greener Grant Program to expand the statewide PA Senior Environment Corps Program.

Since 1997, PaSEC volunteers, aged 55 and over, have dedicated over 2,000,000 hours to protecting and restoring Pennsylvania’s environment. These trained volunteers are engaged in environmental projects like baseline water quality monitoring, watershed assessment, trail restoration, and environmental education.

(Photo: SEC Members from Cambria County attend baseline water testing training.)

In one year alone, the estimated value of the PaSEC program is estimated at $3,035,714. Over the sixteen years since inception, the PaSEC program has contributed an estimated $48.6 million to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  In 2013, Nature Abounds won a Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award for the revitalization and expansion of the PaSEC program.

“We are really excited about the new grant and the continued support of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Melinda Hughes-Wert, Nature Abounds President. She continued, “With the new funding, in addition to continuing to build the SEC, we will also be analyzing the baseline water quality data that the SEC members have been collecting since 1997. We will share what we find in terms of changes with the waterways with the local communities and officials, and we will also be putting all the data into a new database which will be accessible to the public.”

Other states that have SEC efforts underway are Maryland, New Jersey and Alabama.

For information about becoming involved with the PaSEC program either as a volunteer or sponsor contact Nature Abounds at 814-765-1453, send email to: info@natureabounds.org, or visit the Nature Abounds’ PA Senior Environment Corps webpage. 

5/19/2014