Travis County Earth Day Celebration 2014

PRESS RELEASE - FULL VERSION Each year, Earth Day is celebrated nationally to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the modern environmental movement when over 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks and auditoriums to express their support for a healthy, sustainable environment. The first Earth Day held in 1970, ultimately led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. With that same spirit of living in a healthy, sustainable environment in mind and in celebration of this year's Earth Day 2014, the Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources Department (TNR), in partnership with the Travis County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) is very proud to announce that it will be hosting the first ever Travis County Earth Day Celebration Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at the Travis County Building, 700 Lavaca Street, Austin from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. And in response to a shortage of reusable bags at area food banks and pantries, TCSO and Travis County Health and Human Services are proud to announce the ''T-Shirts for Hunger'' program. Old, unwanted t-shirts are being collected by staff and community organizations and Travis County Correctional Complex at Del Valle inmates will up-cycle them into reusable bags/totes that will be donated to Travis County area food pantries to be used to distribute food to local families. Everyone is invited to bring their used, unwanted and preferably clean t-shirts to the Travis County Earth Day Celebration event. In addition to accepting t-shirts, we will also be accepting gently used re-usable shopping bags for the Travis County area food pantries. Other community drop-off locations to be announced soon. At the event, other area partners will be hosting resource booths in celebration of Earth Day 2014 and will have goodies and information to pass along. There will be random drawings held every 30 minutes throughout the event f