On Saturday, May 31, the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and Hackensack Riverkeeper will be collaborating to combine environmental awareness and excitement into one. The event will be taking place at The Park Hotel at Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The goal of the event is to raise money to help preserve the environment of New Jersey through fundraising. More specifically, to help preserve clean water in the area. With millions of residents residing in North Jersey, it is important to ensure that they all have a clean and accessible water source. The event has currently raised over $33,000 and counting, working towards a good cause that affects life all throughout the Meadowlands.
“While we – especially our boss Captain Bill Sheehan – are most known for our advocacy in the Meadowlands, there’s an entire upriver region that’s nothing like it, but which provides clean drinking water to fully half the communities within the District,” said Hugh Carola, Program Director at Hackensack Riverkeeper. “Too often we don’t recognize that the water we get from the tap begins its journey in a stream, then flows into a reservoir, before the water company draws it out, ensure it’s safe and sends it on. By going Over The Edge we will celebrate the connection between where our water comes from and the communities that depend on it.
To make it easier for those donating, the $1000 fundraising minimum has been erased. Now, the top 92 earners will earn the opportunity to rappel down the 21-story hotel.
The event is being organized by Over the Edge, a company that organizes urban rappelling events for fundraising, among other purposes. The thrill of rappelling down a building serves as a reward for those that worked to raise money for an important cause.
It is a unique combination, though one that has proven to work, as the company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since its inception in 2004. As they head to the Meadowlands for another year, their work to better our environment and protect clean water doesn’t go unnoticed.