Environment

ENVIRONMENT

Members become educated about the importance and benefits of beautifying their communities and preserving natural resources. The VIA stimulated citizen action to address these concerns by creating a Micro-Nature Park between the clubhouse and the boardwalk, starting the Sussex Gardeners Club, being responsible for benches and drinking fountains on the boardwalk, creating a fishing pier for children at Lake Gerar, moving the lighthouse and planting shrubs along Rehoboth Avenue near the entrance to town, just to mention a few.

A few of our most recent projects include planting dune grass each year to help protect the beach dunes from erosion.  We also participate yearly in cleaning up the beaches and inland bays.  We support and feed volunteers who contribute their time to Trail Days clean up at Cape Henlopen State Park.  In addition, we adopted a highway as part of DelDOT’s  Adopt A Highway program.  Volunteers meet 3-4 times a year to clean up our part of Bay Vista Road.  Several members help to keep Rehoboth Beach beautiful by planting and maintaining flower boxes around the city.

We encourage members to Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce.  At each meeting, used batteries are collected from members to be recycled.  Members are asked to save used mascara wands to be donated to a wildlife group.  We also accept donations of old sheets, towels, and rugs to be donated to the local SPCA.  We encouraged members to eliminate the use of plastic by gifting each member a metal straw and a reusable grocery tote.  This past spring, the club did a plastics drive and collected over 500 pounds of plastic that was donated as part of the TREX Recycling Program.

Village Improvement Association members work to help protect our community, our county, and our state.