(The following is a press release from Keep Akron Beautiful)
Does your neighborhood or community look litter free? Well, you can thank the 4,240 volunteers registered to clean up 128 public sites including 36 city parks, 6 community centers and 20 schools. Twenty thousand, six-hundred and eighty pounds (20,680), or 10.34 tons of litter was collected, along with eight –hundred and eighty pounds of recyclables.
Keep Akron Beautiful volunteers also collected 106 tires, coats, clothes, plastic furniture and pieces of cars, which were illegally dumped. A diverse group of individuals and organizations dedicated over 16,960 hours to join the fight against litter and Clean Up Akron! Several local businesses organized cleanup groups and also made a difference in our community.
These included Bridgestone-Americas Tire Operation, Robert W. Baird and Co., Brenna, Manna & Diamond, LLC., and Dominion East Ohio. We also had groups from the Young Professionals of Akron, Cascade Locks Park Association, The Glendale Community Garden, and The Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition.
In addition to these cleanup groups, we had a large cleanup at the Hyre Trail, done by Pi Sigma Epsilon. Andrew Lamb, KAB volunteer, organized the group which pulled out over 40 bags of trash, bottles, tires, and plastic furniture out of the water. Andrew is being recognized as Keep America Beautiful’s Volunteer of the Week, nationally.
Downtown Akron Partnership joined the fight and cleaned up downtown Akron with their crew of 250 volunteers on May 2 during the “Green and Clean” campaign.
The Super Saturday picnic held on May 3 was a hit. More than 600 Clean Up Akron Month volunteers came to the Akron Zoo for a free volunteer appreciation picnic and awards ceremony. Orbit from the Akron Rubber Ducks, Conrad Conservation from the Akron Zoo, and the St. Vincent-St. Mary band entertained the crowd, while Deputy Service Director, Phil Montgomery and Keep Akron Beautiful Program Manager, Jacqui Flaherty offered warm words of encouragement and congratulations to the assembled volunteers.
We are proud that we can express our gratitude and appreciation to our volunteers with a free picnic through the generosity of our 19 local sponsors, including: Acme Fresh Markets, Akron Zoological Park, City of Akron, D-A Specialty Co. Inc., Eat’n Park, GOJO Industries, Hitchcock Fleming & Associates, Inc., House of LaRose, Junior League of Akron, Keep Akron Beautiful Board of Directors, Little Debbie Snacks, Sandra Smith, Schwebel’s Bakery, Shearer’s Branded Snacks, Sully’s Party Rental, Pepsi-Cola, The University of Akron, The Volunteer Center of Summit County, Waste Management of Ohio.
However, none of this could have been possible if it were not for our national sponsors who so generously donated the supplies to make this litter cleanup week possible again this year. Clean Up Akron Month is Keep Akron Beautiful’s largest public awareness event; we look forward to this spring initiative every year as it fulfills our mission to “improve Akron’s quality of life through beautification and responsible environmental management.”
