"When Jenny (Bingham, local author and illustrator) and I first met about this project, we both joked that it would be great if this image of Rigsby could become more popular than the crying Indian," Drumheller said with a laugh.If Nancy Drumheller has her way, the lasting image of litter literacy will no longer be an Indian chief crying in a field of debris, but instead it will be Rigsby the raccoon and all his woodland friends.
Drumheller is the executive coordinator of Keep Henrico (Va.) Beautiful and "Rigsby" is at the center of the county’s award-winning multimedia environmental education kit designed to raise public awareness of the impact litter has on living things, especially wildlife in county parks.
"When Jenny (Bingham, local author and illustrator) and I first met about this project, we both joked that it would be great if this image of Rigsby could become more popular than the crying Indian," Drumheller said with a laugh.
And although Rigsby hasn’t quite reached that status, his popularity in Henrico and throughout Virginia is growing.
The Rigsby toolkit, which is geared towards children in KÐ third grades, is a multimedia package that features the Rigsby picture book, a puppet show, activity book, bookmarker, sticker and audio CD.
"We designed the program so that it’s easy for teachers and for Scouts to use," Drumheller said. "It’s very adaptable, and the feedback from the teachers, the Scout leaders and the children has been very positive."
When Drumheller and Bingham first began collaborating on the Rigsby project, Drumheller said Bingham was given free rein to come up with any sort of ideas she wanted, the only caveat was that it was necessary to have an actual book to go in the toolkit.
"All I asked from her is that there had to be a book," Drumheller said. "There just aren’t enough books available anywhere on litter education, and we need this type of tool."
Bingham’s first draft of the Rigsby book actually became the 12-minute puppet show portion of the toolkit. For the final draft of the book, she worked with Kay-Lyn Merritt, librarian with the Henrico County Public Library to get the rhyming meter correct.
"When she brought me the first draft, I said ‘This is a really cute story, but now can you make it rhyme?’" Drumheller recalled with a chuckle. "And you know what, she did it and now that’s become a lesson too when we go out to the schools."
In addition to writing and illustrating the Rigsby book, Bingham, who used to be a graphic artist for the county, also designed a patch that local Scouts can earn by teaching the Rigsby materials to others.
Although Rigsby is a project of the county Utility Department (where Keep Henrico Beautiful is housed), staff from departments throughout the county participated in the project. Staff from the Recreation and Parks Department, Public Relations and Media Services and even the Human Resources Department all chipped in to provide everything from voice narration on the CD to penning a "Rigsby Rap."
As executive coordinator and only actual staff person working in the Keep Henrico Beautiful program, Drumheller said the support of other departments and the Board of Supervisors was critical.
"The supervisors believed enough in this program that they gave us the money [$8,214 for approximately 500 tool kits] to make it happen," Drumheller said. "We printed these materials on faith only and the public reaction has certainly justified the expenditures."
The program has been so successful in Henrico County that the director of the Virginia Office of Environmental Education has purchased enough copies of the toolkit for one Rigsby toolkit to be placed in each of the states 2,500 elementary schools.
(For more information about Rigsby, contact Nancy Drumheller, executive coordinator, Keep Henrico Beautiful at (804) 501-7277 or dru30@co.henrico.va.us; or you can visit Rigsby’s Web site at www.co.henrico.va.us/utility/khbeautiful/Rigsby.htm.)