Organizing a litter clean-up campaign is a lot like a search for the elusive wild morel mushroom — you know what they look like but they are hard to find. Finding those rare types willing to join the hunt, go where no man or woman has gone before, stoop and bend to pick up the unwanted, often dirty, trash of our society is a task that takes single-minded determination.

The second Downtown Waynesville Association Community Cleanup held in September in conjunction with Big Sweep, was bogged down, so to speak. Many of the wonderful volunteers from the Spring Earth Day Cleanup had plans to be out of town. A number of fresh new volunteers in the downtown area had graciously stepped forward and agreed to take over trails near their businesses, but one of the major trails —Russ Avenue — was still in search of a leader when a wonderful thing happened.

Michael Barger, director of operations for Arby’s of Western North Carolina, stepped forward and agreed to round up a crew to tackle this long valley trail. Then he went one step further — he issued a challenge to the downtown volunteers. The Russ Avenue trail crew planned to pick up more trash than all of downtown put together.

The challenge was on! The winner? Who knows, but that is not the point. The trucks we loaded were different sizes and we had not made arrangements for weighing. The real winners, however, were everyone who participated and joined the trail crews, the entire community, and the environment. How many more winners do we need!

A huge thank you goes out to the Trail crew leaders Michael Barger of Arby’s, MaryEtta Burr of Burr Studio and Gallery, Ann Eavenson of Main Street Realty, Kathleen Lamont of Marc Edward Hair Design, Alice Mosteller of Apple Realty and to myself, Kaaren Stoner of Twigs and Leaves Gallery and Studio.

The Russ Avenue Team included members from the following businesses — The Lodge, Sagebrush Steakhouse, McDonald’s, A&W/Long John Silvers, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Auto Bell Car Wash, Hardee’s Coldwell Banker, Eckerd Drugs, Maggie’s Galley, Pizza Hut, Arby’s and Ingles — and Joe Pineau, trash-picker-upper extraordinaire.

The Apple Realty Team included Reese Boyd, Paulette Dinofa, Susan Dolata, Billie Franklin, Kaye Matthews, Alice Mosteller and Marge Welch. The Burr Studio Team included Dennis Ruane, Jamie Cogdill, Jon Bowman, Dane Burr, Buffy Messer and Patricia Miller. The Main Street Realty Team included Ann Eavenson, Louise Baker, Cindi Thompson, Carroll Mease and Marty Prevost. The Marc Edwards Team included Suzy Johnson and Kathleen Lamont. And the Twigs and Leaves Team included Phil Medford, Jean Alvarez and Kaaren Stoner.

Individuals that need big, big thank yous are Philann Medford for overseeing operations at the truck, Mib Medford for patrolling the streets in her recycling costume and teaching all of us what we can and can not recycle, and the following individuals who just came out and volunteered some time — Bob Phillips, Linda McFarlane, Carol and Bob Grytten, Roger and Judy Wenge, Joe Sam Queen, Libba Feichter, Pat and Roscoe Wells, Philip Johnston, and Dana Hough. If I neglected to mention anyone, my apologies. You are appreciated.

Thank you!
Kaaren Stoner,
Clean-up Coordinator,
Waynesville

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News