Local children partner with “Ladders to the Outdoors” for Earth Day

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Sixth grader Isabella Rescka-Stoehr from Lackawanna Middle School describes Earth Day as “saving the Earth and animals and picking up after people who just throw trash everywhere.”

Today, in honor of Earth Day, more than 850 students from local schools, including Rescka-Stoehr, had the chance to walk alongside the shoreline of Lake Erie and help clean up our community. Schools in Western New York partnered with “Ladders to the Outdoors” to make this happen.

The New York State’s Parks and Recreation “Ladders to the Outdoors” outreach program helps provide children opportunities to visit state parks and to learn from hands-on experiences.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to get a hands-on experience to learn about how cleaning up the beach can help the beach keep going,” said Kejuan Harmon, Statewide Coordinator of “Ladders to the Outdoors”.

This will become a tradition for these children and future generations. Plastic, old clothing, sticks, and more were found while walking the shores of Woodlawn State Park, but some students say they noticed less trash than expected, and it’s a good sign.

“It feels good to know that there are people out there that actually care about cleaning up the beach instead of just leaving their trash behind so it gives me hope,” said seventh-grader John Maddign from Lackawanna Middle School.

If you’d like to participate in Earth Day at home some students have advice to share.

Seventh-grader Ramir Golden says we should recycle a bit more today, second-grader Jaelle Love says we should help the Earth and keep it clean, and seventh-grader Zoey Cassick says, “There’s not another planet we could go to so you have to take care of the one we have.”

Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.

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