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GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP OF SC ENDS WITH A STATEWIDE CLEANUP SPREE

Three Major Cleanups Celebrate the Spirit of Community Improvement

Columbia, SC – PalmettoPride, your anti-litter organization, assisted in the organization of three major cleanups to celebrate the end of the Great American Cleanup of South Carolina. On Saturday, May 31, 2008, the Town of Summerton, Manchester State Forest and Sumter National Forest hosted community cleanups.  One hundred forty-three people removed 30,580 pounds from our streets, parks and forest. 

When Summerton resident Erika Mivens recently moved back to her hometown, she saw a problem in her community: litter!  She contacted the town government, and together with Town Administrator Bruce Behrens, set out to change the landscape in her community – one cleanup at a time.  She pulled together volunteers from Scott's Branch High School's ROTC program, local business owners and other concerned citizens to cleanup Warsaw Park.  Over 50 collected 100 bags of trash from 10 streets.  Piggly Wiggly donated water and fruit, and Charles Flippen collected the bags of trash.

Sumter County Public Works and Sumter County KAB have coordinated the Manchester State Park cleanup for three years with Harvey Belser and Steve Ward, the Park's management team.  This year, 62 volunteers from Shaw AFB and local communities removed 11.79 tons from the forest. 

After a 4-year break, PalmettoPride and Sumter National Forest joined forces again to tackle litter in the forest.  Working in Edgefield County, 31 volunteers removed 5,000 pounds of trash from the forest and boat landings on Strom Thurmond Lake.  Businesses donating goods and services to help the efforts include:  the Village Grill, YONCE FORD-MERCURY, Tri-County Solid Waste Authority, National Wild Turkey Federation and A&A Vending. 

The Great American Cleanup is recognized as the nation's largest cleanup event and is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Inc.  It takes place annually from March 1 through May 31.  In South Carolina, an average of 40 groups and 20 local KAB affiliates organize community cleanups.  Last year, over 5 million pounds of trash and recyclables were removed from our streets, parks, waterways. 

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