White Plains Kicks Off Earth Day Celebration

White Plains Mayor Tom Roach kicked off Earth Week in White Plains with a press conference on the steps of City Hall.

White Plains’ Third Annual Earth Week Celebration is presented by the City of White Plains and the White Plains Business Improvement District (WP BID), along with our sponsors: Apogee Fitness & Wellness, Bunge, Con Edison, Inland, New York Power Authority and SL Green/Reckson.

“Earth Week is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to think about how we can live in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way,” said Roach. “There are changes both large and small that each of us can make that will improve the health of our planet. Earth Week in White Plains aims to increase overall community awareness and provide residents and businesses with the knowledge and opportunity to make some of those changes.”

The high point of the week will be the Sustain White Plains event, an outdoor Earth Day experience for all ages that will take place on Mamaroneck Avenue between Martine Avenue and Main Street on Saturday, April 27 from noon to 4:00 p.m.

The event will feature 50 vendors, all showcasing their environmentally friendly contributions to the community.  Activities will include creating music with recycled materials, a fashion show featuring clothes made from recycled materials, and performances by Bash the Trash and Mark Rust. Local businesses will offer coupons, interactive exhibits, give-a-ways, and much more.

Click here for a full listing of White Plains Earth Week events: www.wpbid.com/events_WP_earth_week_2013.htm.

Another exciting part of Earth Week this year is the City’s partnership with Soles 4 Souls, a charity that collects and re-distributes gently worn shoes to the less fortunate.

The City of White Plains will be sponsoring a city-wide shoe drive with the goal of collecting 20,000 pairs of shoes.  Shoes will be collected at Ebersole Ice Rink, located at Delfino Park, 110 Lake Street, on Friday, April 26, 4 – 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

This eco-friendly and charitable community project is a great way for both children and adults to participate in Earth Week.

Soles 4 Souls CEO Buddy Teaster joined Roach for the kick-off press conference to highlight the partnership.

“700 million pairs of shoes are discarded by Americans each year," Teaster said. "Soles4Souls has distributed more than 19 million pairs of shoes around the world with the help of partners like the City of White Plains.  With 1 in every 4 adults in the world living in extreme poverty, basic necessities like shoes are simply unavailable.  In developing nations like Haiti, Honduras, and Tanzania, walking is the main form of transportation, and shoes can protect a person’s feet from cuts and infections.  Also, children in other parts of the world cannot attend school without a pair of shoes. Please join in this Earth Day initiative to recycle gently worn footwear, and possibly improve the quality of someone’s daily life.  Shoes can enable someone to step out of poverty. Partnering with local communities domestically affords Soles4Soles the opportunity to provide relief here in the United States.  About 50% of the shoes collected are distributed to victims of disaster relief and homeless shelters in the U.S.” 

Here are additional shoe drop off locations:

(Through Thursday, April 24 at 5 p.m. only)

Calvary Baptist Church (188 Orawaupum St)

City Hall (255 Main St)

Don Coqui (105-7 Mamaroneck Ave)

First Baptist Church (456 North Street)

Good Counsel Academy (52 North Broadway)

Memorial Methodist Church (250 Bryant Avenue)

Our Lady of Sorrows (888 Mamaroneck Ave)

Ridgeway Alliance (465 Ridgeway)

Stop and Shop (both White Plains locations)

The Westchester Mall:  Brighton, Clark’s, Easy Spirit, Nine West,

The North Face

White Plains Public Library (100 Martine Ave)

White Plains Presbyterian Church (39 North Broadway)

White Plains Youth Bureau (11 Amherst Place)

WP Gedney Yard Recycling Facility: TILI Shed (87 Gedney Way)