You could say that Lynnhaven River NOW’s Pearl home of the Quarter, the Metheny household in Thoroughgood, is truly a family affair.

Mom and Dad, Elizabeth and Michael Metheny, son Matt, and dogs, Max and Luke, go above and beyond the call of duties enumerated on the Pearl Home application.

The application only asks that residents check off 15 out of 50 environmental practices that help protect our waterways in order to receive a free LRNow Pearl Home flag and pole for their yard.

The Methenys do many of the right things such as recycling, using reusable water bottles, cutting off lights that aren’t in use, scooping the poop and more. They collect the pine straw that neighbors have bagged and put out on the street and reuse it as mulch in their yard.  And they also have installed energy efficient windows and don’t wash their car in the driveway.

Even their two dogs, Max and Luke, do their share by wearing LRNow Scoop the Poop scarves on their neighborhood walks.  Max and Luke in their scarves also worked a recent neighborhood garage sale reminding folks of the importance of scooping the poop to keep the waterways clean.

But it is sixteen-year-old Matt, who is one of the big reasons that the Metheny household is LRNow’s Pearl Home of the Quarter.  The rising junior at Princess Anne High School, has been volunteering to help the Pearl Home program for maybe five or more years, said his mom, Elizabeth.

Matt and his mom first learned about LRNow when he was a Boy Scout and his troop put together oyster cages for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at the Brock Center.  LRNow’s Pearl Home program caught their eyes.

And ever since Matt has been volunteering for the Pearl Home program. Most importantly, he has put together Pearl Home flag kits in the family garage…hundreds of them over time.

His mom delivers the flags to Pearl Home Coordinator Terri Gorman at the LRNow office on Holland Road.  Terri then passes them out to new Pearl Homes all over the city.

Matt also will deliver flags to new Thoroughgood Pearl Homes and take out new flags to neighbors whose old flags are frazzled and worn. Matt’s love of the water and the beach since he was a youngster in Rhode Island inspired him to help out.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve loved the Bay and everything,” Matt said. “And I thought it would be cool to do this.”

The Thoroughgood Garden Club and Civic League are now on the Pearl Home bandwagon also and the two groups are working to have Thoroughgood become a Pearl Neighborhood.  They need 80 more homes, or 30 percent of the residences, to become Pearl Homes.

In addition, a Pearl Neighborhood also must provide an LRNow education program for residents and sponsor an earth friendly community project in a shared space.

To fill out an LRNow Pearl Home application online.  For more information on Pearl Homes or Pearl Neighborhoods, send Terri Gorman an email at Terri@LRNow.org.