On August 24th, EPCAMR Staff, Community Service Volunteer John Karpien, Greater Nanticoke Elementary Student Volunteer Dawson A. Hughes, son of Robert,  and Wilkes University volunteers hosted an AMD Tie Dye Workshop for nearly 50  youth in partnership with the Newport Township Community Organization in Wanamie, PA, in the Southern portion of the Wyoming Valley. EPCAMR has worked with Newport Township Community Organization for many years on illegal dump site cleanups throughout the southern portion of the Valley. Nearly 20 Wilkes University Resident Assistants offered a few hours of community service to EPCAMR to help local youth make AMD Tie Dyes. Special guest at the event was SpongeBob Squarepants, who happened to be on most of the T-shirts before they were Tie-Dyed. So it is definitely true that SpongeBob can live in AMD!!

EPCAMR has been selected as one of the 2011 NEPA CreateAthon projects! Northeastern Pennsylvania non-profit organizations will be the beneficiaries of free marketing and creative services provided by cds creative, inc. and Dawe Consulting, LLC along with a growing team of creative services volunteers in the 10th annual NEPA CreateAthon. CreateAthon is a 24-plus-hour event in which agencies across North America develop creative and strategic marketing materials for non-profit organizations in their area, pro-bono. Locally, they received so many applications that it was hard to choose just a few.  Locally, the NEPA CreateAThon team provides marketing and creative services to nonprofit organizations in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Monroe and Wyoming counties (other counties can be considered on a special needs basis.) The CreateAthon volunteers include local artists, writers, web designers and coders and others. They are very excited about our Marketing and Branding project and look forward to working with us in mid-September. EPCAMR has accepted our slot and will be scheduling a meeting with cds creative inc. & Dawe Consulting, LLC by the end of August in order to gather more information, logos, current marketing materials, etc. and to determine exactly what EPCAMR will need to move forward with getting the word out about the great work that we do in the region.

“Catherine Shafer brought CreateAThon to Northeastern Pennsylvania ten years ago, and it has grown every year,” said John Dawe, president of Dawe Consulting. “Last year, cds creative’s CreateAThon event provided marketing services to fifteen nonprofit organizations. The market value of the work produced during the event  is estimated at $50, 000.”

Shafer will be out of the area CreateAthon day, but will be helping out with all the preparation work.  “CreateAthon is a way for us to support our community by providing marketing materials that will help nonprofits reach new donors and sources and create more awareness of their organizations,” she added. “The group who works on CreateAthon is tremendously talented.”

Then on the 15^th of September the free marketing consultants, graphic designers, web designers, and others will start bright and early and  -– 24 hours later they’ll be presenting mock ups of the projects to all of the nonprofits they have chosen to work with this year.  EPCAMR has marked its calendar for Friday September 16^th at 9 a.m. and will be joining the team at the Wyoming Seminary Upper School Stettler Learning Resource Center conference room for the unveiling!

Many thanks to John Dawe, CFRE-CreateAthon Coordinator and his colleagues for selecting EPCAMR to participate in this great opportunity!

EPCAMR’s 1st Annual Dinner & 15th Anniversary Event held on August 4th, at the Genetti Inn & Suites, Hazleton, PA has been deemed a huge success by the Staff and those supporters who were in attendance to celebrate in the not so small accomplishment of continuing to remain a viable, strong, and enduring small non-profit regional environmental organization, in these tough economic times, after 15 years of existence. Over 80 individuals, supporters, representatives from Conservation Districts across the Northeastern part of PA, Anthracite Industry representatives, Co-Generation Facility representatives, consultants, watershed groups, Western PA representatives, regional partners, State employees, and a representative (Mark Grohusky) from Senator John Yudichak’s Office, all came together for a wonderful evening event to celebrate our successes and hear what the future holds for EPCAMR in the region.

The evening started out with a Cocktail Hour and Fellowship Reception and our Anthrascapes AMD Art Silent Auction. There was also a special cake created by Joey Capparel, Genetti’s Catering, of an abandoned mine tunnel, on a mountainside, with orange AMD colored water flowing down two channels into a circulating fountain.

Bidding opened at the beginning of the event and closed at the tail end of the program. Over 50 pieces of art created in some fashion, with recovered iron oxide that EPCAMR had harvested, processed, dried, and packaged up for the artists were on display. All were very creative, innovative, artistic, cultural, had a coal region ambiance to the theme of many of the artwork pieces and were truly inspiring and remarkable. Pysanky eggs. Scarves, Paintings, Acrylics, Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, Stains, Recycled materials. One of the artists, and close friend of Robert’s Heather Radel, who had a piece in the show, worked with her private student class on Watercolor originals with iron oxide, that were a part of the Anthrascapes Art Silent Auction as well, but they were so attached to their pieces, that we decided just to display them as a separate exhibit.

Our featured MC couldn’t be in attendance, Mr. Dave Hess, former PA DEP Secretary,  due to a family issue that was much more important for him and EPCAMR fully appreciated his need to be with his mother. Mr. Mike Korb, Environmental Program Manager, for the PA DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (PA DEP BAMR), Wilkes-Barre Regional Office, stepped up in his place to serve as the MC for the evening, which ended up being a “roast” of the EPCAMR Staff that led to some early evening comedy and lightheartedness to start the night off. Mike started off the evening by recalling that over 20 years ago, Robert E. Hughes, as a teenager, had been an Intern with the PA DEP BAMR Office and again with what was then the Hawk Run District Mining Office in Western PA,now the Moshannon District Mining Office, while attending Penn-State University to obtain his degree in Environmental Resource Management. He then went on to say that “if Robert had been trained by the PA DEP BAMR guys, then he must be ok and doing something right with EPCAMR”. Mike recalled the first ever regional Conference on Abandoned Mine Reclamation, held at Wilkes University, in the Summer of 1996, when Robert was the Assistant Director for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s NE Office, prior to becoming the Executive Director of EPCAMR, just a year later, after having volunteered to be the Recording Secretary for EPCAMR in its infancy and charter stage that was signed on the second day of the two-day Conference at Wilkes University, that eventually led to him securing the position. Mike went on to jokingly tell the audience, “There were over 200 people at that first Conference, and 13 years later, I’d have to say it was the best attended Conference to date. Then you bring on Mike Hewitt, as a Office of Surface Mining Intern, for a few years, until he was able to become full-time and all of the Conferences since then have been downhill from there!”

What Mike failed to mention is that between EPCAMR and WPCAMR, the 13 years of Conferences on abandoned mine reclamation and AMD, is the longest running State-wide Conference, on the single largest non-point pollution source problem in PA, and our broad coalitions are State-wide and have had the greatest impact on bringing additional State and Federal funding to the Commonwealth of PA to address this issue because of our commitment to our mission, goals, purpose, and the need for clean water. EPCAMR is sure that Mike knows this and jesting aside, PA DEP BAMR has always been a partner with EPCAMR, and I actually do credit a lot of my early training and expertise to my many good friends at PA DEP BAMR and the Hawk Run DMO.

Mr. Bernie McGurl gave the audience a Toast of Appreciation and thanked our partners, the volunteer Board members, and the Staff for all of their hard work and dedication to the organization and to being committed to cleaning up PA’s legacy of past mining practices. Going forward into the Dinner Program, Executive Director, changed the tone of the evening to a more passionate and heartfelt mood by giving his speech that talked about the theme of the Dinner and our 15th Anniversary, “PARTNERSHIPS, PLACES, & PRIDE”. Read his speech, if you have a FaceBook Account.

Robert then went on to mention that the 15 year digital photo collection of literally thousands of photos that were being projected to the center wall of the Banquet Hall were all of the special places that we’ve been to across PA and throughout NE and NC PA in our efforts to cleanup AMD and work with our partners for clean water. Nearly everyone in the audience were in one or more of the photos. Following the photo display, Robert then proceeded to unveil 3 EPCAMR Publicity Collages in recycled antique matted picture frames (36″ x 24″) created by our EPCAMR Intern Justyna Sacharzewska after the concept was developed by the Executive Director to piece together black and white photocopied headlines of publicity generated over the years and to put a splash of color photos into the frames to tell a story.  The EPCAMR Staff believes that by just reading the headlines alone above the articles, one can easily see what EPCAMR does in the region and has done to clean up streams impacted by past mining and to educate our youth, communities, and community groups on AMD. Currently, all 3 art pieces themselves, are hanging in the EPCAMR Office in Ashley, PA.

Robert then proceeded to recognize our sponsors, our partnering organizations, Conservation Districts, and the participating Artists from the Anthrascapes AMD Art Silent Auction.  Special plaques were awarded to the Executive Committee of the EPCAMR Board of Trustees. Certificates of Appreciation for all other EPCAMR Board of Trustees, present in the audience, founding, past, and current, were also handed out to recognize them for their years of dedication and service to the organization. Special Recognition was mentioned for the PA DEP Section 319 Clean Water Program in the Bureau of Watershed Management that has financially supported EPCAMR since our inception through US EPA Section 319 funding from the Federal government. Ron Phelps, formerly with the Pocono NE RC & DC back in the early 1990s was also recognized separately, although he couldn’t be in attendance for his initial work in getting the EPCAMR partners together while he was the Resource Conservation Coordinator in Lackawanna County.  EPCAMR also recognized Jackie Rouse, District Manager for the Sullivan County Conservation District, who was celebrating her birthday that evening. EPCAMR gave her a signed card by the Staff and EPCAMR Board Members that she was unaware of that she would be receiving and the entire audience sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her.

Finally, to change the mood and tone of the evening for a third time, EPCAMR’s very own founding and current Board of Trustee, Mr. Bruno Najaka, took the audience back in time to years, long before the EPCAMR Staff were born, during the heyday of Anthracite and Bituminous Mining in NE and NC PA, particularly, in the Sullivan County Area, where he lives, and told some tall tales, not so tall tales, childhood memories in the coalfields, and had words of wisdom for the audience to believe in EPCAMR’s work, like the Staff and the Board do, and to continue to support them in their efforts to reclaim abandoned mine lands and clean up streams and rivers polluted by AMD. In closing, nearly $800 was raised from the Silent Auction. Group Photos were taken of the EPCAMR Staff and the EPCAMR Board and folks departed for the evening.

The EPCAMR Staff will shortly be posting all of the technical presentations from the recently convened 13th Annual PA AMR Conference held on August 4-6th, at the Genetti Inn & Suites, Hazleton, PA. 22 Presentations are currently being converted to .PDF documents to allow for easier access and your viewing pleasure through a free Adobe Acrobat Reader format that is probably more common to most of our audience rather than having multiple versions of PowerPoint presentations uploaded. Over 100 attendees attended the annual event and several dozen consultant, state, and partner exhibitors displayed their wares and several non-profit watershed organizations were also able to introduce others to their mission and goals to clean up AMD in their watersheds. While much of the keynote speakers discussions were informative and insightful, from both the State, Federal, and Lobbying level, their points were well taken, not very positive, related to the future of funding for AMD remediation work, treatment, and future operation and maintenance of existing systems being operated by volunteer groups across the State, and left the attendees with a call to action with their legislators.

Visit www.treatminewater.com soon to download or view online the presentations from the Conference.

Macy’s helps local charity raise funds and awareness for important cause

Wilkes-Barre, PA – August 10, 2011 – Macy’s will partner with the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) to invite customers to participate in Macy’s 6th annual “Shop for a Cause” charity shopping event. Macy’s 2011 Shop for a Cause will take place on August 27, 2011, customers can purchase tickets now from EPCAMR.  Macy’s Shop for a Cause is a unique one-day-only shopping event created to support local charities’ fundraising efforts, which has helped raised more than $38 million for charities across the country since 2006.

“Macy’s is committed to giving back to our local communities.  Our annual Shop for a Cause Program, which has raised more than $38 million for local and national charities in the past five years, is meaningful for us because it gives our customers and associates an opportunity to give back to the local charities, schools and non-profits that matter a great deal to them,” said Martine Reardon, Macy’s Executive Vice President of Marketing.   “We are proud to offer our customers an easy way to make a positive difference while enjoying great savings at Macy’s.”

Macy’s has provided EPCAMR with shopping passes to sell for $5 each. The organization will keep 100% of every ticket it sells. The more EPCAMR sells, the more money it will raise! Just in time for BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING!

By purchasing a shopping pass to the event from EPCAMR, customers support EPCAMR’s environmental education programs on water quality to local elementary schools within the Wyoming Valley and will support the purchase of testing equipment and educational field supplies for our outdoor environmental education experiences with the students and teachers alike while enjoying a day of spectacular discounts, entertainment, special events. Pass holders will enjoy special discounts on most regular, sale and clearance purchases all day.   Some exclusions apply.

“EPCAMR is trying to find creative ways to generate income for our small non-profit environmental organization that has been around for the last 15 years cleaning up our rivers and streams impacted by abandoned mines and restoring streams to viable recreational fisheries, while at the same time providing outdoor environmental education experiences to students on local water quality impacts within their communities. All of the funds generated from this one day fundraiser will be utilized locally as we plan for our future programs with students and teachers throughout the Wyoming Valley in School Districts up and down the Susquehanna River. We appreciate Macy’s giving my small shop of two an opportunity to provide some outreach and awareness, not only of our organization, but their commitment to helping local community non-profits generate some much needed income, given the current economy, decreased donations, and tight State and Federal fiscal budgets.”, graciously stated, Robert E. Hughes, founding Executive Director of EPCAMR.

About Macy’s

Macy’s, the largest retail brand of Macy’s, Inc., delivers fashion and affordable luxury to customers at more than 800 locations in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Macy’s stores and macys.com offer distinctive assortments including the most desired family of exclusive and fashion brands for him, her and home. Macy’s is known for such epic events as Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks® and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®, as well as spectacular fashion shows, culinary events, flower shows and celebrity appearances. Building on a 150-year tradition, Macy’s helps strengthen communities by supporting local and national charities that make a difference in the lives of our customers.

For Macy’s media materials, images and contacts, please visit our online pressroom at www.macys.com/pressroom.

For more details on EPCAMR, please visit our homepage at www.epcamr.org or www.treatminewater.com.

If you haven’t registered already, please make every effort to get them in within the next 45 minutes in order to allow for the EPCAMR Staff to have enough time to properly account for meals and the registrations for the upcoming 15th Anniversary Dinner on Thursday of this week! Chef Joe is looking for his final answer on the meal counts for this week and EPCAMR doesn’t want to have to estimate too many overages to keep our costs down. Thank you! See the Dinner Registration link NOW!

Solution Mining, Inc., headed up by Mr. Christopher Gillis, native of the Wyoming Valley, and resident of the Back Mountain Area, Luzerne County has just become an Iron Level Sponsor of the EPCAMR Dinner. Mr. Gillis is an innovative, entrepreneur, that has over 30 years experience working on water quality and mine drainage issues in Northeastern PA.  Solution Mining Inc. has a patented AMD remediation treatment system technology that they are trying to get to a pilot-scale demonstration to focus in on the Old Forge AMD Borehole discharge in the Lackawanna Valley.  EPCAMR has been a partner of Solution Mining, Inc. over the years at various stages of the development of his treatment technology and looks forward to continue working once again with the consulting firm in the future.

EPCAMR’s current President, Bernie McGurl, presented EPCAMR with a check today to become a Aluminum Sponsor of the EPCAMR Dinner, on behalf of the Lackawanna River Corridor Association and the Lackawanna Valley Conservancy, two of the more prominent and long-standing environmental organizations that operate in the Northern Anthracite Coalfields and throughout the entire Lackawanna Valley.

Kovalchik, Kollar, & Co., LLP -A well respected CPA firm from Kingston, PA has become an iron level sponsor for the EPCAMR Dinner.  K & K have been EPCAMR’s CPA for nearly a decade, provided audits, completed our 990s, and have always had a genuine interest in our work in the Region. EPCAMR is one of a few select non-profits in the region that has the great pleasure of working with Randy and Basil from K & K and hopes to do so in the future.

Hy-Tech Mushroom Compost, Inc. has donated 55 cubic yards of Pasteurized Mushroom Compost delivered to within an 80 mile radius of Ashley, PA to the highest bidder during the Silent Auction. Hy-Tech has been working with EPCAMR over the last several years to assist them with finding locations suitable for the spent mushroom compost on abandoned mine lands and in AMD treatment system construction. Delivery must be made by September 30, 2011.