Judging by the looks of some local roadways, Mount Airy could use a good cleanup and two entities are partnering to accomplish exactly that during a first-of-its-kind community “litter sweep” in the coming weeks.
Mount Airy Parks and Recreation (through its Grounds Maintenance Division) and the Mount Airy Appearance Commission are trying to recruit individuals, businesses and others to actively participate in the three-week campaign scheduled this coming Monday through April 18.
“To my knowledge this is the first time we’ve done something of this large a scale,” city Parks and Recreation Director Darren Lewis said Wednesday regarding the scope of the sweep that seeks to engage everyone in the fight against litter.
Lewis described the present state of the problem as “close to the worse I have seen” locally, based on many years of observation.
“We would like to see this be a large community effort and hope that individuals or businesses will assist with this cleanup in their neighborhood or around their business.”
Families, scouts, civic groups and athletic clubs also are invited to help.
How to get involved
Multiple ways exist for the public to participate in the campaign that is focused on streets in the city limits.
An individual, business or group representative can simply call Darren Lewis or Luke Danley at Mount Airy Parks and Recreation, 336-786-8313, and advise them of a road that person or entity would like to clean.
This is being accompanied by an interesting twist Lewis hopes will intensify the campaign.
“You can call in the street name you want to clean, and to add a little fun, also challenge a friend, family member or colleague to do the same,” he explained.
“This could be the way that we make a significant difference by the challenges continuing throughout our community.” Lewis compared it to a pyramid scheme, only geared toward a positive outcome.
“I will start the challenge by agreeing to pick up Greenhill Road from Plantation Place Lane to Highway 52,” the parks and recreation director disclosed. “I have challenged two friends — Cathy Cloukey will pick up along Pittman Street and Catrina Alexander will pick up Cynthia Drive.”
The community already has responded to the appeal as word about the cleanup has made its rounds.
“I probably have over 20-some streets that people have agreed to take on,” Lewis said Wednesday.
While the N.C. Department of Transportation annually conducts litter sweeps around the state, he mentioned that Mount Airy Parks and Recreation and the city Appearance Commission wanted to pursue an ambitious project locally and in a creative manner.
“And this is what we came up with,” Lewis said of the upcoming campaign, including its challenge aspect. “We thought this would be a fun way to get more people interested in this effort.”
At the same, organizers hope seeing people on the streets picking up litter will make the public at large more conscientious about not tossing it there in the first place.
Mount Airy Parks and Recreation will keep a list of all streets “adopted” during the three-week challenge and can provide a list of roadways that need more attention than others. It also will maintain a tally of bags of trash collected.
Future involvement sought
The campaign that kicks off Monday is coming on the heels of another initiative spearheaded by the Mount Airy Appearance Commission nearly two years ago to make the community cleaner and greener.
In May 2019, the beautification group appointed by the city commissioners won approval for a new program that involved civic, scout and other groups being invited to adopt local streets and pick up litter quarterly for three years.
Among those participating are the Mount Airy Rotary Club and its sister organization, Surry Sunrise Rotary.
The former adopted Greenhill Road and Surry Sunrise Rotary regularly polices Independence Boulevard and Riverside Drive.
Mount Airy Parks and Recreation also is involved, with its territory including Hamburg Street, where personnel recently collected 30 bags of trash, multiple tires and a television set as prelude to the community-wide litter sweep.
Lewis says that ideally, those involved in the three-week campaign will adopt streets on a long-term basis although this is not being asked of them up-front.
Polly Long, a member of the Mount Airy Appearance Commission, welcomes efforts to make the community look the way it should as far as everyone either not littering or helping to spruce up their corners of the world.
“I just think it’s our responsibility to try to keep Earth clean.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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