Becker works for Living Lands and Waters, a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by Chad Pregracke. She is the education coordinator. "I set up workshops with local teachers and other groups," she said. "We've done workshops from Paducah, Ky., to St. Louis to St. Paul, Minn. We're really better known for our cleanups."
Jamaica RPCV Tammy Becker lives 10 months out of the year on a barge traveling up and down the Mississippi River on a clean-up campaign
Mississippi River barge home for one woman
TAMMY BECKER never intended to become a river rat.
But at age 28, the former Highland woman lives 10 months out of the year on a barge traveling up and down the Mississippi River on a clean-up campaign.
"The other two months I'm basically homeless," she said.
Becker works for Living Lands and Waters, a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by Chad Pregracke. She is the education coordinator.
"I set up workshops with local teachers and other groups," she said. "We've done workshops from Paducah, Ky., to St. Louis to St. Paul, Minn. We're really better known for our cleanups."
Becker said the barge is quite nice, and is home to six to eight people for much of the year.
"We all live on a barge and travel within a nine-state area," she said. "All I need is a telephone and the Internet to do my business. I'm also writing grants and setting up and attending meetings."
Becker has been with the group for three years. She graduated from Mater Dei High School and Western Illinois University with a degree in social work.
Pregracke calls Becker the most positive personality in the group, which is quite an accomplishment with the number of optimists they have on board.
Becker said that after college, she spent a year in the Peace Corps in Kingston, Jamaica. She had a great time but was brought home early because of safety concerns.
She was discouraged but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, she said.
She was living with her mom, Judy Cain, in Highland in 2002 when she heard about a river cleanup that Pregracke was doing in St. Louis.
"I went and volunteered and met him. He said, 'What are you doing now?' I said, 'Nothing.' He said, 'Great, we need your help on the barge.'"
Pregracke, from East Moline, founded the group in 1998 after becoming concerned with the river environment while he was in college. He has received several national awards.
The group is scheduled to be back in the St. Louis area in October.
"We might be doing some cleanups," Becker said. "We noticed last time we were there that the river seemed to be getting pretty dirty."
One of the programs the group offers is Adopt a Mississippi Mile.
Becker said the area around the Quad Cities has all been spoken for and they have a lot of other areas being cleaned by volunteers.
"There were a couple of people signed up for the East St. Louis shoreline the last time I looked," she said.
The organization has a land-based office in the Quad Cities area where a couple of administrative assistants work to keep things organized.
For more information on the organization you can visit its web site at livinglandsandwaters.org.
