DFC Phil Foote, the full time DARE Officer for the Calvert County Sheriff's Office, places a bag of clothing into a recycling bin at the Ball Road refuse site. The program receives an annual contribution from the recycler for each container. (Submitted photo)
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. (Dec. 5, 2008)—The Calvert County Department of Public Waste has entered into an agreement with Mid-Atlantic Clothing Recycling that results in 14 containers being installed at local landfill sites for citizens to recycle clothing, stuffed animals, and shoes. As part of the agreement, the County's DARE program will receive $100 per container every year.
The national- and state-level DARE programs also benefit. D.A.R.E. America is paid $500 per bin per year and the State D.A.R.E. coordinator's office receives $100.
DARE says they use the money to purchase workbooks for agencies in Maryland that teach the DARE curriculum.
DARE is a national program that "gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence."
According to Derek Poole of DLP Enterprises, an accounting firm in Prince Frederick, donations to the DARE recycling containers can be tax deductible. Poole suggests that contributors make an itemized list of everything they place in the containers and provide it to their tax consultant.
If you would like to support Calvert Counties DARE program, or would like more information on the recycling effort, including how to have a clothing bin placed at your business, contact Corporal M. Bomgardner by e-mail at bomgarmp (at) co.cal.md.us.