At the Wills Group, community engagement starts with listening to our neighbors’ needs and understanding their challenges—a primary reason why we’re excited about our partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a leader in protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay watershed for over 50 years. Together, we’re tackling one of our region’s most pressing environmental challenges: improving water quality and protecting local ecosystems, which is central to our newest community engagement initiative, Advancing Waterways and Watersheds.
As part of this commitment, we’ve donated $50,000 to support the Alliance’s Project Clean Stream, which mobilizes thousands of volunteers to clean rivers, streams, and shorelines across the watershed. This partnership aligns with our sustainability goals at Splash In, where we prioritize water conservation and eco-friendly practices. By joining forces with the Alliance, we’re extending these efforts into the communities where we live and work.
About the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
For over five decades, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has been a catalyst for bringing together communities, conservation groups, and businesses to restore the lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. They focus on upstream solutions—preventing pollution at the source through initiatives like tree planting, stormwater management, and reducing plastic waste in local waterways.
Kate Fritz, CEO of the Alliance, shares, “Our role is one of action. We work upstream to prevent downstream problems by restoring ecosystems and educating communities. We aim to engage the millions of people who live, work, and play in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to help us restore its health.”
The Chesapeake Bay watershed is one of the most critical ecosystems in the United States, spanning six states and supporting over 18 million people. However, it faces constant threats from pollution, deforestation, and agricultural runoff. In response to these challenges, the Alliance leads initiatives that restore and preserve the watershed’s health. Their efforts include working with farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices that reduce runoff and planting new forests to naturally filter pollutants and support biodiversity.
The Alliance also promotes green infrastructure in urban areas to effectively manage stormwater, including installing rain gardens, permeable pavements, and green roofs that absorb and filter rainwater. Alongside these projects, the Alliance engages local communities through educational programs and hands-on stewardship activities, empowering residents to take an active role in protecting their environment. Together, these efforts address immediate ecological challenges and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay.
About Project Clean Stream
At the heart of our partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay is Project Clean Stream, an initiative dedicated to improving water quality by mobilizing volunteers to clean up local streams and rivers. For over 20 years, this program has engaged communities across six Bay states, removing trash and pollution from waterways before it can cause harm downstream.
Kate Fritz emphasizes the importance of the program, sharing, “We’ve deployed over 400,000 volunteers since Project Clean Stream began. Together, we’ve picked up trash, reduced plastic pollution, and kept rivers and streams clean. The Wills Group’s financial support will help us expand these efforts, engage more volunteers, and accelerate restoration across the Bay watershed.”
Our partnership with the Alliance was highlighted at the Eighth Annual Blackie Wills Golf Classic, where we announced our $50,000 grant to support Project Clean Stream. We’re now gearing up for our first volunteer event on November 4th, where our employees will clean a local stream in Columbia, Maryland, near one of our Splash In locations. This hands-on effort is just one example of how we’re turning our environmental commitment into action—directly improving water quality and protecting the Chesapeake Bay from pollution.
This year alone, Project Clean Stream has hosted over 60 community cleanup events and engaged over 1,000 volunteers, collectively removing 14 tons of trash from the watershed. Our support helps expand these efforts and aligns with our broader sustainability goals, showing how business operations and community action can work hand-in-hand for lasting environmental change.
As Lauren Sauder, Capacity Building Projects Manager at the Alliance, explains, “I’m excited about the impact we’ll make together with Wills Group. By aligning our missions, we can engage diverse communities and create a greater impact on the health of our waterways.”
Wills Group’s Commitment to Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is foundational to our Splash In, and our partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay naturally extends this commitment. At our Splash In locations, we use advanced water reclamation and chemical filtration systems to recycle and reuse water, reducing waste by up to 50% compared to at-home car washes. These practices, coupled with our biodegradable, eco-friendly cleaning products, demonstrate our commitment to minimizing environmental impact.
By supporting Project Clean Stream, we’re taking our sustainability efforts a step further. As Kate Fritz noted, “It’s inspiring to see companies like the Wills Group actively involved in environmental solutions. It shows that businesses can be powerful agents of change in addressing today’s environmental challenges.”
A Shared Vision for a Healthier Bay
Our partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay marks the beginning of a long-term commitment to protecting our local waterways. As we look ahead, we’re excited to explore new ways to contribute to the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and beyond.
As Kate Fritz aptly put it, “It’s going to take generations to restore the Chesapeake Bay, but partnerships like these help accelerate that timeline. It gives me hope to see private companies like the Wills Group stepping up to make a difference.”
Together with the Alliance, we are making a lasting impact on the health of our waterways, and we are just getting started. As we bring people together to protect our environment, we’re fostering a cleaner, healthier Chesapeake Bay. The work we do today will shape the Bay for future generations, ensuring Lives in Motion for years to come.