By: Claire Tribble
It takes two articles back-to-back to describe how awesome of a person Isaac Britnell is. Not only is he working on what I can only imagine is an amazing video project, but he also organized a litter cleanup with his Athens Bible School Eagle Scout Troop. These guys showed up and showed out. And it wasn’t just the Eagle Scout Troop; they brought back up!
Initially, Isaac asked if I knew of a spot around a creek that needed some attention. I knew of a few spots that had plenty of paper that had been chopped by lawnmower blades a few times, but then I found a small spot that was in desperate need of help. We met in the parking lot of Value-Added Resources on North Marion Street. While Isaac and I were gearing up, everyone started to roll in. His mom, dad, and sister were first. Then some more Eagle Scouts and their leader, and then Mayor Ronnie Marks and Justin Travis from City Hall pulled up. We went over a few things, and I pointed out our main spot to Mayor Marks. Shocked is an understatement.
Hidden in some scrub trees was the mother load. Mayor Marks immediately tackled the crammed full shopping carts and then everyone got busy. Thirteen of us managed to fill up 24 bags in around 30 minutes. And there was anything and everything in the pile. From clothes and shoes to food containers, we managed to get it as clean as we could. For piles like this, an industrial vacuum is needed to come in to get all the broken glass and cigarette butts.
These guys didn’t just clean that spot and leave, they wanted to spend the full amount of time they had allotted cleaning up litter. We walked around the corner to the railroad tracks and started there. Now I’m curious about why railroad tracks make people want to throw their trash out the window. We had full bottles and empty bottles, and plenty of plastic wrappers to go with them. These guys managed to fill three more bags at one train crossing before their time was up.
Isaac may have chosen what seemed like the hottest day of the year to have a cleanup, but it was 1000% worth it. They had a shopping cart full, a crate full, and 27 bags full at the end of their hour. Their HOUR. We can do better than this. We shouldn’t have to spend so much time and resources to clean after other people. Watch the Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful Facebook page, I’m going to proudly share Isaac’s video when he finishes — it’s going to be a real eye-opener! And if you know Isaac, tell him how awesome he is!
By: Claire Tribble – Executive Director,
Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful
