Summit Awarded $10K Sustainable Jersey Grant

The Summit Free Market is about to get a permanent home courtesy of the Sustainable Jersey small grant program which has awarded the City of Summit $10,000 to put toward creating a space to house items offered at the city's Free Market.

The 2013 Sustainable Jersey Small Grants Program is funded by Walmart. The corporation is providing $380,000 in grants to local governments for sustainability projects.  Summit is one of 15 municipalities in the Garden State to receive a Sustainable Jersey Small Grant at the $10,000 level.  

"The Sustainable Jersey small grants program gives life to important projects like the Summit Free Market," Summit Mayor Ellen Dickson said. "We are so thankful for this funding and excited about creating a permanent building to house our reuse program."

Held at the Transfer Station on New Providence Avenue, the Free Market, which will be held next from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays Oct. 12 and 19, offers residents an opportunity to bring unwanted resuable items to share.

"The Summit Free Market plays an important role in helping Summit residents to reduce their impact on the planet by focusing on reusing materials that may otherwise enter the waste stream," Dickson continued. "This incredibly popular initiative was originally funded through a Sustainable Jersey grant and has continued seasonally in the spring and fall since 2008. There is strong support for creating a permanent building to house the market year round. This grant award is an important next step in making it happen."

Philip Serghini, Director of Public Affairs for Walmart in New Jersey, said Walmart is "incredibly proud of the success of the Sustainable Jersey Small Grant Program” and added that over the course of a "few short years" Walmart has funded over $1 million to New Jersey municipalities to advance the company's commitment to environmental sustainability.