Jack Siglin wants to save the Chesapeake Bay.
With the help of his fellow Lime Kiln Middle School sixth-graders and nearly 130 small piggy banks, Jack is putting money behind his efforts.
“When you are presented with an opportunity to save the Bay, it?s good to just grab it by the horns,” said Jack, 12.
As part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation?s Change for the Chesapeake campaign, Jack has led his classmates in filling the banks to raise money for the Green Fund, a $130 million fund dedicated to Bay improvement.
“We probably have 100 pigs filled,” said Jack, referring to the banks supplied by the foundation.
Jack and his fellow students will present the piggy banks today to Sen. James Robey, D-Howard. Democratic Dels. Guy Guzzone and Shane Pendergrass, both of Howard, also are expectedto attend.
Jack?s never met the Howard delegates ? although he has shaken Robey?s hand ? and he is “very excited” about the event.
“It makes them aware of the environment, and what we are doing to it,” Robey said of the students.
The students? effort is part of a community service project in which they have been studying the Bay, said Catherine Mundy, Jack?s sixth-grade reading teacher.
Lawmakers are considering a measure to create the Green Fund through a tax on the amount of water-resistant surface, known as impervious surfaces, produced by developers and homebuilders. The measure has been met with opposition from the builder community, which objects to the fee as a way to raise money.
The legislature should be dedicating resources to Bay cleanup, said Terry Cummings, manager of advocacy for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
“The campaign was an effort to enable the citizens to express their interest in creating a dedicated funding source for Bay cleanup,” Cummings said.
