Thrive St Marys

05/28/2026

✨We’ve been a little quiet lately… but behind the scenes, has been working on something fun 👀

Nope… not benches this time. 😉

We’re taking the first steps toward another branch of our mission to keep making St. Marys an even better place to live, work, and play. Stay tuned… we can’t wait to share more soon! ✨

04/22/2026

Downtown St Marys is BUZZIN’ today‼️
Thanks to St. Marys Heritage Preservation Group Clean Up Day 🧹🧽
Pulling in Volunteers, Firemen, City Road Crew…everyone out there putting in the work… picking up litter, washing down sidewalks, and giving our hometown that fresh-for-summer glow ✨☀️

This is what community pride looks like 🤩

Because here’s the thing—recycling is awesome (we LOVE it)… but controlling litter? That’s where it all starts.
If it never hits the ground, it never has to be picked up. Simple as that. 💪♻️

Huge shoutout to everyone helping make our community shine a little brighter today, you don’t go unnoticed 🙌

👇 Now we want to hear from YOU…
Where would you like to see a bench next? 🪑

12/19/2025

Today was a big day for Thrive St Marys, and we are beyond excited to finally share this moment with all of you! 💚♻️

✨What you see here are more than just benches — they’re a celebration of teamwork, community pride, and what happens when people come together with a shared purpose. These benches mark our very first community project as an established organization, and we couldn’t have reached this milestone without an incredible group of supporters behind us✨

👏 A HUGE thank you to the Elk County Community Recycling Center for their partnership and guidance, and to Contact Technologies, 6 Little Monkeys, and Pfaffs Market for their added recycling efforts!

🙌 Thank you to the St. Marys Economic Development Corporation and the Elk County Community Foundation for assisting with filing for the benches.

♻️ Shout-out to Fox's Pizza Den St. Marys, Tablespoons Cafe & Deli, and the St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce for serving as collection sites — and to Dream Adventures Travel Co. for always being willing to run around collecting film plastics!

💪 We are so grateful for the amazing volunteers, young and old, at the recycling center who show up day after day to help sort film plastics. You are the backbone of this effort!

♻️HUGE thank you to all those who continue to drop off film plastics at the center and all our drop off locations. Without you, we would never reach these goals!

🍎 A special thank-you to Terri Lodes and her staff for implementing recycling throughout the cafeterias, and to the St. Marys Area School District for allowing us to place these benches at the middle school — creating a space that represents sustainability, collaboration, and community care for students and staff alike.

✨ This project proves that small actions lead to big results, and when a community works together, incredible things can happen. These benches will be enjoyed for years to come and will stand as a reminder of what we can accomplish together✨

💚 From all of us at Thrive St. Marys — thank you for believing in us, supporting our first project, and celebrating this milestone with us.

🚀 This is just the beginning!

11/05/2025

And what about all those political signs in yards and along the road? If they are made of film plastic and can stretch, we can take them for recycling. If they are made of heavy paperboard, we can take them for recycling. If they are constructed of corrugated plastic, we cannot accept them for recycling. We can, however, take metal framing from signs.

10/08/2025

We are so excited to share that our very first plastics project has taken off faster than we ever imagined — we just applied for our 3rd bench for the community! 🙌🖤 A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has collected, dropped off, and supported this initiative. Your effort is turning plastic waste into something beautiful and lasting for St. Marys.

With that exciting growth comes a new need 👉 volunteers to help sort the overwhelming amount of plastic we’ve been receiving. We partner with Elk County Community Recycling Center and usually meet at the center on Wednesday evenings, anytime between 5–7 PM. Even 30 minutes of your time makes a big difference — and we promise it’s a fun, feel-good way to help the community! 💪

💡 We’d also love your input:
➡️ Have a spot in St. Marys that could use one of these beautiful black benches?
➡️ Know of an old bench that’s seen better days and needs replacing?
Drop a photo or location in the comments — let’s keep adding to our community’s charm!

Finally, as we hit this exciting milestone, we’re ready to start planning our next big community project. What would you love to see THRIVE St. Marys tackle next? Share your ideas below — big or small — we’re listening! 💬✨

🖤💚 Thank you for helping us keep St. Marys clean, beautiful, and thriving!

09/10/2025

🚨We did it—bench #2 is officially earned! 🚨
💀My help today, is dead tired…. 💀
Thanks to YOUR amazing efforts, Thrive St. Marys has collected over 2,000 lbs of film plastic through the NexTrek Recycling Program 🙌♻️

Every bag you dropped off helped turn waste into something beautiful and lasting for our community. 🪑 ✨2,000 lbs of plastic = 2 community benches 🙌♻️ Thank YOU for making it happen, St. Marys! 💚

08/27/2025

🎉💪 We’re SO close! Thrive St Marys is only 99 POUNDS away from earning our SECOND bench through the NexTrex film plastic recycling program! 🪑♻️

That’s basically just a couple grocery runs worth of plastic bags, bread bags, bubble wrap & more! 👀

Help us cross the finish line — every little crinkle counts! 🛍️✨

📍 Drop off your clean, dry film plastics at St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce, Tablespoons Cafe & Deli, Fox's Pizza Den St. Marys or go right out to the Elk County Community Recycling Center and tell them you want it go towards Thrive!

Let’s bench-mark another win together! 🙌

08/14/2025

🌱 Exciting News for THRIVE 🌱

We’re thrilled to announce a brand-new partnership between THRIVE St. Marys and SMASD for our Film Plastics Initiative! Together, we’ll be working to keep more plastics out of our landfills and create a cleaner, greener community for everyone. 💚♻️

The community dedication and hard work have made initiatives like this possible, and we can’t wait to see the impact we’ll make with this new collaboration!

📅 Upcoming Volunteer Meetings:

Tuesday, September 9th – 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 7th – 7:00 p.m.

Both meetings will be held at The Chamber of Commerce. We encourage all volunteers to attend so we can share updates, plan our next steps, and keep building momentum together.

Thank you for being the heart of THRIVE—your time, energy, and passion are truly making a difference in St. Marys! 💜

07/20/2025

JOIN US‼️

Elk County Community Recycling Center
St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce

07/19/2025

📰💚 A huge thank you to the Courier Express for highlighting a big milestone for our small but mighty community project!

We’ve officially collected our first 1,000 pounds of film plastic , enough for our very first bench through Thrive St. Marys! ♻️🌱 This isn’t just about plastic, it’s about progress and about turning everyday waste into something beautiful and useful for our community spaces.

Your coverage helps spread the word and bring even more people into the mission — and that means the world to us. One bench down… many more to go!

Let’s keep the momentum going, St. Marys!

ST. MARYS — Just over a month after launching a community recycling initiative in partnership with NexTrex, Thrive St. Marys has collected enough film plastic to add a bench made