Volunteers were the backbone of Emporia Clean Sweep, which collected more than 1 million pounds of trash in a four-weekend period.
Nearly 400 volunteers participated in the project that was aimed at cleaning up Emporia.
“I’m thrilled with the way it went,” organizer Patty Gilligan said.
Overall, the event collected 573 tons of trash or 1,146,350 pounds of trash. The project began Sept. 19 and continued on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 10. The event collected 26.48 tons of brush and trees; 204.8 tons of construction and demolition; 169.22 tons of trash; 46.29 tons of iron; 1.758 tons of appliances; 93.87 tons of tires; 1.83 tons of recyclable; 14.71 tons of electronic waste; and 14.19 tons of household hazardous waste.
The event was a cooperative effort between the Emporia Building Futures campaign, the Human Relations Commission, city staff members, area service organizations and volunteers in the community. Those volunteers were the bread and butter of the event once it took off. Volunteers worked diligently to help with trash hauling. Kids, adults and people with disabilities all made Clean Sweep a success.
“(Clean Sweep) got a large mix of the community working together in all different areas of town,” Gilligan said. “All socioeconomic levels, economic levels working together and realizing that people are just people. Anybody can be fun to work with. I think people were surprised how fun it was.”
Organizer Phil Dillon said they were blessed to have nearly 400 volunteers and it showed that the community is able to solve problems. The project also couldn’t have been done without the City of Emporia’s help, said Fred Neuer, organizer.
“It was great to see,” he said. “The city stepped up to the plate. I think it was a good partnership. We could have done it without them, but it would have been a lot more difficult.”
Neuer said the success of the event raises the question — what can be done together as a community?
That question is taking the Emporia Clean Sweep committee in new directions that are focused on other city projects that need to be done. The group is looking the Season of Service, which is a community organization based in Portland, Ore. Although the organization is primarily faith-based, the lessons learned through the its efforts can be taken into the Emporia community, Dillon said.
Dillon said Clean Sweep Emporia was more expensive than first anticipated even with funding from the Clint Bowyer 79 fund. In the future, the committee hopes to get more private donations to support the event.
“There might be lower cost options that would be less expensive for the city,” Dillon said.
The committee hopes to get a core group of volunteers on board to tackle other projects around the city such as helping someone with a housing problem or cleaning up the city.
“We need to encourage civic pride,” Neuer said, “and make the community presentable to visitors.”
The committee that planned Emporia Clean Sweep will meet in November to discuss future plans.
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)