On Wednesday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Friendly Grounds Café hosted “Coffee With a Cop & Earth Day Plant Kit Sale” where community members and the Clermont Police Department came together for meaningful conversations celebrating Earth Day.
The clients at The Friendship Place hand-prepared Earth Day Plant Kits, which included painted flowerpots, seeds, and seed pellets.
The proceeds of this event directly support programs for children and adults with disabilities and special needs in Central Florida. This event was meant to show inclusion, diversity, and positive community partnerships.
This event expressed the need to protect and defend our planet as climate change, pollution, and global warming continues to happen.
Protecting the Planet as a Community
With a goal of protecting the planet, working together to help find solutions to environmental issues is essential. The world remaining habitable is up to humans and the way they treat the planet we’re living on.
“It’s important to us at The Friendship Place that our clients really want to take care of the community and the environment,” said Cameron Gomes, CEO of the Dreamplex. “This is something that our director definitely promotes throughout the program here and we wanted to celebrate having coffee with a cop to come in and talk about how to protect the environment.”
“Reduce, reuse, recycle” has been taught to us since elementary school. As a rule for protecting the Earth, picking up trash at the beach or using a recycling bin are small actions that can keep Earth safe.
“It goes back to those things you learn in grade school,” said Gomes. “Recycle, take care of things, you don’t litter, and you try to not be wasteful. Those are things we can work on on an everyday basis because society just creates so much produce and makes you wonder if we need all of it. Just making sure we’re reusing what we have and limiting our waste is what can be done on a daily basis.”
The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 when a state senator from Wisconsin organized a national conference to raise awareness about environmental issues. With 15 billion trees being cut down each year, planting trees protects the air we breathe and gives life to some animals.
“We invited our community guests for The Friendship Place to purchase some things that our participants here have made that families can buy seeds to grow a new plant for their home” said Gomes. “Treating people well is a part of Earth Day since we’re all a part of this one planet together.
Antonio Robison, a member of the Mobile Crisis Unit at the Clermont Police Department, said looking to better the environment should be everyone’s job regardless of their age.
“We have to take care of the planet that takes care of us and we try to take the time to educate people on the Earth,” said Robinson. “It’s important to remind people to take a step back sometimes and remember if you’re going to throw something out, you may not think it’s not hurting anyone, but you’re still suffering at the end of the day if the planet gets hurt.”
Robinson also notes how difficult it can be to keep up with recycling habits.
“Remember to take the extra step of throwing away trash because it doesn’t take any time to throw it in the bin,” said Robinson. “A lot of people get so busy through life events that they forget we have to slow down and take care of the planet. It’s like your house, you wouldn’t throw a piece of gum on the floor and wouldn’t light a fire and completely forget about it. We are all in this together and it is our job to protect the environment.”
The Orlando community continues to take care of the environment by providing a safe space for people to be themselves and unite through protecting a world we all share.
“This event has warm smiles, sharing stories, backgrounds, and building that connection to keep that bond strong and as a member of the current police department, our goal is to continue protecting the community,” said Robinson. “This Earth is our home because it gives us the oxygen we need to breathe, the sun for us to live, and a community to support each other.”
The event put together environmental initiatives that family and friends could gather at The Friendship Place and talk with a cop about the importance of recycling and taking care of our world.
Visit Friendly Grounds Cafe at 2400 S. Hwy. 27, Suite 4108 in Clermont. For more information, click HERE.
