Community Engagement Mini Grant helps Baltimore-based church harvest rain water and prevent pollution
The Episcopal Church of Christ the King (CTK) in Windsor Mill believes “this world is our Father’s creation and we want to take care of it.” With community-lead environmental stewardship as one of their goals, the church community embarked on a series of greening projects on church property to help reduce polluted runoff flowing into the Bay.
CTK began the process of greening their property by partnering with Blue Water Baltimore and Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake on a series of projects, including planting 47 trees on church property and planting two community vegetable gardens adjacent to the church building.
A Water Audit recommended rainwater harvesting to prevent further stormwater runoff and help prevent pollution from reaching the tributaries of the Patapsco River. CTK used funding from a Chesapeake Bay Trust Community Engagement Mini Grant, which is a grant program designed for first-time applicants, to install two cisterns and five rain barrels to collect rain water from the buildings on church property. Water from the cisterns and rain barrels will water the new gardens and trees, helping to filter out pollutants before they reach the nearby creeks and streams.
For CTK, these projects are just the beginning—they have big plans do more in the near future, including adding more rain gardens, conservation landscaping, and removing as much impervious surface as feasible from church property. In addition to the work on church property, CTK is reaching out their surrounding community to host workshops on rain barrel installation and to spread the word about how their neighbors can green their properties and protect the bay too!
The Trust’s Community Engagement Mini Grant program is currently open and accepts applications on a rolling basis until the funds are fully expended for the fiscal year. Funds for the grant program are replenished each year on July 1. To learn more about how your organization can benefit from this program and to submit an application, visit here.
To learn more about Episcopal Church of Christ the King, visit their website.
