Porter County Expo Center Plays Host to 2014 Earth Day Event

On Saturday, the Porter County Expo Center helped celebrate Earth Day with their annual Porter County Earth Day Event. With over 80 exhibits, the public had the opportunity to learn about ways to help sustain the environment.

The line-up included: Recycle Cycle, Family Yoga Classes, a presentation from the Green Team, and a visit from Silly Safaris. There was a ton to do for adults and children of all ages. There was also a silent auction, a bird house building area, and guests were invited to take a spin in NIPSCO’s electric vehicle. There was so much to look at, learn from, and purchase to help contribute to a green world.

Abe Paluch, member of host organization, Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County, explained the importance of this event.

“Our mission is to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Porter County by providing convenient programs for reduction of waste and collection of recyclable materials. This event is part of our bigger mission, which I feel is our contribution to save the earth and to make our planet more livable. It helps to see that we instill sustainable practices in the citizens of the future,” said Paluch

Booths encouraged visitors to learn about everything from composting your trash, volunteering to help injured wild animals, to using a smaller version of a windmill to produce electricity for your home.

Schools from the Porter Country region participated by decorating barrels for rain water collection. Brenda Brueckheimer, part of the MS4 environmental entity, shared the importance of saving rain water.

“We sponsor the schools to come up with this unbelievable artwork to promote ‘Only Rain in the Drains,’ program to save the rain. It’s all we have in this world; we don’t get more of it. It all recycles itself. So, we buy these barrels for the schools and they create this artwork to put on display. The top 2 that win get to go down to state for our annual Clean Water Act meeting,” said Brueckheimer

The water barrels on display showed how students are eager to get involved in showing their support for environmental issues.

Porter County Parks and Recreation’s Jessica Spiess explained why this event is special to Parks and Recreation.

“A lot of people these days don’t get outside as much as they should. We are big supporters of getting people to get out. Earth Day is a great way to get everybody aware of what they can do and how they can get involved,” said Spiess

With so many things to see, this year’s Earth Day Event was a definite success. The goal of the event was to bring awareness of the environment to the public, and they succeeded in sharing how we can all make contributions to bettering our community.

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