14th annual Clean-up Coshocton held
CCBDD Special Olympic athletes were one of the many groups that gathered at the Coshocton County Court Square to help with the 14th annual Clean-Up Coshocton Day. Pictured are: Front row – Lindsey, Scott, Javanna, Chris and Toby; back row – Macy, Troy, Kevin, Dakota and Brandon. Jen Jones | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Despite the chilly morning, crowds of people met at the Coshocton County Court Square to join the Clean-Up Coshocton Day. The 14th annual Clean-Up Coshocton Day was held on Saturday, April 21. The day is chosen in conjunction with Earth Day.
Lyn Mizer, director of the United Way, said they usually have around 100 volunteers come to help. “We have businesses, churches and other groups that come to help us.” Mizer said volunteers can either be assigned an area to pick up trash or they can choose to clean up their own neighborhoods or an area where they have noticed a lot of trash. The United Way provided donuts, water, trash bags, gloves and visibility vests for all of the volunteers.
“This does my heart good – to see all of these people come year after year to help with clean-up,” said Mizer.
Groups could be seen walking along the railroad tracks, behind and in the plaza, along Main Street and in several neighborhoods. Adults and children donned gloves and filled bright orange trash bags. The bags were left to be picked up by volunteers in trucks. Trucks were sent to areas with large amounts of trash, such as piles of tires.
Toby Collins, director of recreation and Special Olympics for the Coshocton County Board of Developmental Disabilities, gathered a large group of Special Olympics athletes to join the clean-up. “The community supports us so much. It’s important that the athletes learn to support the community, too, and learn to give back to the area.” The athletes were excited to be helping because it was “fun to be with friends” and “Toby is cool and fun.” Steve Oster, Superintendent of CCBDD, said he was excited to see such a large group from Hopewell. “It gets bigger every year and staff is even bringing their kids.”
The area around the mill stone at the end of Main Street is always the project a group from Kiwanis takes care of. Maureen Karl said, “It is a service project for the Kiwanis and we just chose clean-up day as the best time to work on it.” The bushes were trimmed, weeds pulled, mulch spread and new flags donated by Annin Flag were displayed.
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