WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — With Earth Day one week away, an eight-year-old boy from central Pennsylvania is on a mission to tidy up his town, and he's hoping to inspire others to do the same.
Newswatch 16's Ryan Leckey shared Noah Kriger's project on Thursday and a few other happenings you shared with us on social media surrounding Earth Day.
The event in central PA this weekend is called “Noah’s Earth Day Cleanup.” It's planned for Saturday, April 17, 2021, in Williamsport from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"Six years ago I dreamed of it," Noah Kriger said.
His mom Laura said her son is truly leading the charge:
"This was all him. He learned about Earth Day in school a couple of years ago. He wanted to clean up the city of Williamsport. So he came up with this idea. It was going to just be family, but then he sort of wanted to get the whole city involved," Laura Kriger said.
How to get involved:
To get the word out, Noah's family launched this Facebook page. The goal is to inspire people everywhere to head out into their neighborhoods this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help spruce up their neighborhoods. Also on that Facebook page, you can learn more under the "discussion tab" on where Noah and his trash tackling team will be handing out supplies for the project.
Even if you don't live in "Bill-Town," his mom Laura said, no problem!
"Anyone can participate if they don't live in Williamsport. So you would just come out, clean up your street around your house, one of the parks, a school, anywhere in the city, really, or wherever you are."
Share your involvement:
If you do participate, no matter where you live, you're encouraged to share your photos on social media using #NoahsEarthDay.
Ryan asked Noah, "Why is it important that we don't litter in our communities?"
Noah replied, "Number one, if you litter in front of a cop, they could give you a fine and you don't want to waste your money on it. And number two, it's not ok to litter because, like, if a bird catches it and if it has plastic in it and then it (the bird) feeds it to its babies, the baby could choke."
Since Noah is a big fan of animals, another part of his project included taking pre-orders for t-shirts to benefit an ocean clean-up organization.
Pennsylvania's littering laws:
To learn more about PA's littering laws, head here to be connected to a fact sheet provided by the state.