Rend Lake Cleanup September 25 2010
The Rend Lake Cleanup/National Public Lands Day
This event has been held well over two decades! Volunteers come from from scout groups, clubs, other organizations, families and individuals. The focus of the event is on environmental protection and stewardship of public lands and is sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with support of many local businesses.
Participants arrive at 8am to begin their day by volunteering to collect litter from roadways, parking lots, recreation areas, and the shoreline of Rend Lake properties. At the end of the morning, volunteers are provided a free event T-shirt, a free lunch and prize raffle, and awards ceremony.
Event coordinators indicated that donations to support the annual event were significantly down this year compared with past years, in part due to the economy. Beautify Southern Illinois challenges organizations and companies in the region to offer help to fully sponsor the this terrific project for 2011!
Hundreds of volunteered for this year's cleanup:
- Cub Scouts from Benton, Christopher, Herrin, Marion, McCleansboro, Pinkneyville, Pittsburg and West Frankfort
- Girl Scouts and Brownies from Benton, Carterville, Goreville, Hurst and McCleansboro
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale Geography Club (SIUC students who provide 30 or more hours of volunteerism during an academic year qualify for the SIUC Environmental Ambassador Award, see: http://www.cehs.siu.edu/beautify/Ambassador/Default.htm
- Kiwanis Club of Benton (who cooks and coordinates the logistics of lunch every year- Thank You Kiwanis Club of Benton!)
- Modern Woodmen of America of Sesser
- A Home School group from Benton
- Families
- Individuals
As an added support to environmental sustainability, the trash which is collected by volunteers is sorted by the Modern Woodmen of America of Sesser to divert recyclable materials. The group recycles the aluminum to raise funds.
