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At merely 20 years old, Riley Wiesinger of Altoona is on her way to setting up a nonprofit organization that will benefit Blair County and the environment.
Wiesinger started and runs the Hemlock Project, designed to connect the community to the environment. Wiesinger plans environmental service projects at parks, streams, gardens and more.
She partners with educators, farmers, and local/state parks around Blair County, including the Lower Trail in Williamsburg. Volunteers clean up trash, plant trees and remove invasive species.
How It Started
Wiesinger started the Hemlock Project during her Americorps Environmental Advocate internship at the Blair County Planning Commission. The internship was remote from the beginning due to the pandemic. Wiesinger, who was focusing on community outreach with environmental advocacy and conservation, reached out to David McFarland, her supervisor, and told him that she was interested in doing more.
"I wanted the community to be involved, so that people could be exposed to environmental problems and climate change," said Wiesinger.
McFarland gave Wiesinger the go-ahead, and the Helmlock Project was born.
Because of the COVID-19 virus, Wiesinger started off on a remote platform over Zoom. There were only a few participants at first – friends of Wiesinger.
"I didn't have a lot of outreach experience at the time," Wiesinger said. "Eventually, I started reaching out to nonprofits that were up and running but needed help and volunteers."
Wiesinger found that the projects were there. There just wasn't a connection to volunteers.
"Most of these nonprofits are run by older generations," Wiesinger said. "They weren't really using social media."
It became clear that Wiesinger's role was not only to connect volunteers to the environment, but also connect the organizations to the public.
The first Hemlock Project environmental event was in conjunction with Greg Williams. Ten volunteers went to Rails to Trails to clear out invasive species and plant trees.
Other partners Wiesinger has worked with are the Central Blair Recreation Commission for cleaning up parks and the Hollidaysburg Monastery.
One of Wiesinger's worries in starting projects like this during the pandemic was the comfort of volunteers. Wiesinger assured interested parties that the project would be outside and could be done with masks on and at a safe social distance.
How It's Going
This spring, Wiesinger has run the Hemlock Project by herself. This means she creates, organizes and hosts events.
Wiesinger did not expect the Hemlock Project to be as large as it is.
"Now I need my own Americorps intern," Wiesinger said.
Wiesinger creates a schedule at the beginning of every month and adds to it as the month goes on.
Though Wiesinger started in places more familiar to her, like Lower Trail and places in Altoona, she is working on expanding to all of Blair County in order to open volunteering to anyone who is interested.
"I know everyone can't get transportation to places I go to a lot," Wiesinger said. "I want to expand for them."
Here are some of the Hemlock Project's stats, after just starting projects in March of 2021:
• 11 events
• 377 community service hours
• 77 bags of trash
• Cleared 3 miles of invasive species on more than 100 trees
Where It's Going
Wiesinger has many ideas for the future of the Hemlock Project. Throughout the rest of the summer, Wiesinger will have environmental projects, including a habitat rehabilitation in June and a cemetery clean up in July. Considering the weather, projects will likely wrap up in early August, though there are a few scattered projects that could take place in the fall and winter months.
Wiesinger's goals for the future focus on her volunteers. She is hoping to one day partner with Penn State to create a program in which volunteer hours can translate into environmental certifications. Some examples of certifications include tree tending and identifying plant diseases.
Wiesinger also plans to work with under-privileged children and people on probation who need service hours.
"The environment is a rehabilitating space," Wiesinger said.
The Hemlock Project is open to anyone who is interested.
"Helping the environment is for the community, not for a specific age range," said Wiesinger. "It's inclusive. No one is outcast. We're just picking up trash."
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