33,406 volunteers served in PRIDE Spring Cleanup
June 30, 2011 by clackey
Steve Edge, Scott Moore and Robby Blair accept the City of London's PRIDE Spring Cleanup Award from Congressman Hal Rogers
Congressman Hal Rogers joined PRIDE on June 28 to announce that a record-breaking number of volunteers picked up litter across southern and eastern Kentucky during PRIDE Spring Cleanup Month in April, and he presented trophies to the counties, cities, schools and nonprofit agencies that recruited the most Spring Cleanup volunteers.
The Spring Cleanup campaign drew 33,406 volunteers. Across the region, 32,840 bags of trash and 27,513 tons of trash were removed from the region’s landscape. Ten tons of junk appliances and 52 tons of other materials were recycled. 203 tons of old tires were gathered for proper disposal.
“Last year, I couldn’t believe more than 30,000 people would volunteer to pick up trash across the region, but PRIDE volunteers had another record-breaking year for 2011,” said Congressman Rogers. “The old tires and used appliances tossed over the hillsides are finally becoming a thing of the past. PRIDE volunteers have worked hard to educate our community members about the value of putting trash in its proper place and the importance of recycling. All the hard work is paying off and we invite more people to join PRIDE again this fall.”
Rogers congratulated the region’s communities for meeting the “Get Five for PRIDE” challenge, which set the goal of a five-percent increase over the 31,200 Spring Cleanup volunteers last year. In fact, the 2011 Spring Cleanup saw the largest volunteer turnout since PRIDE began organizing the annual cleanup campaign in 1998.
The City of London, Perry County, Manchester Elementary School and the Lake Cumberland Community Action Agency won the trophies for 2011 PRIDE Spring Cleanup Greatest Volunteer Participation by a city, county, school and nonprofit agency.
The runners up were Greensburg, Jackson County, Pine Knot Elementary and KCEOC.
Wolfe County received the Get Five for PRIDE trophy for the greatest increase of Spring Cleanup volunteers from 2010 to 2011. Wolfe County reported 1,725 volunteers in April 2011, an increase of 1,527 over April 2010.
Rogers also recognized the counties and cities that increased their Spring Cleanup volunteer total by at least five percent over 2010. Certificates were presented to the cities of Blaine, Burnside, Campbellsville, Corbin, Edmonton, Ferguson, Gamaliel, Greensburg, Inez, Livingston, London, Loyall, Lynch, Martin, Middlesboro, Owingsville, Pineville, Sharpsburg and Whitesburg, and the counties of Adair, Breathitt, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Jackson, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Magoffin, McCreary, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Pike, Rockcastle, Taylor, Wayne, Whitley and Wolfe.
The annual Spring Cleanup is hosted by Eastern Kentucky PRIDE, a nonprofit organization that encourages environmental cleanup and education in a 38-county region. Local governments organized the cleanup activities, and PRIDE provided supplies, volunteer T-shirts and funding assistance.Sponsors helped make the 2011 Spring Cleanup possible. Hinkle Contracting and Outdoor Venture Corporation were the Gold-Level Sponsors. The Silver-Level Sponsors were SouthEast Telephone, Blackboard Student Services and Walmart.
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