Getting Trashy on the Peace River

Below: Georgia Caruthers stands in front of bags of trash collected during the Peace River Cleanup.

Below: Shaun, Georgia and Bailey Caruthers relax for a minute during the cleanup.

Steve Partain picks up trash out of the river.

With the help of Keep Polk County Beautiful, we organized a cleanup at the Peace River on Saturday and it was a great success. We had 12 volunteers collect 21 bags of trash from the river and the canoe launch area at S.R. 60 in Bartow, as well as one tire and three chairs.

It was pretty rewarding to survey the area we had cleaned afterward and see it trash-free.

I always like to see the types of people who come out for cleanups. It was refreshing to see that one volunteer, Shaun Caruthers, brought his two daughters, Bailey and Georgia, to participate in the cleanup. What better way to teach your children about taking care of the environment than leading by example? As you can see by the pictures, little Georgia really got into the cleanup. She is muddy because she kept getting out of the canoe to pick up trash along the riverbank.

Heather Allerheiligen and Valerie Lebeau, who live in Winter Haven, volunteered even though they didn't have a canoe or kayak. Heather's e-mail to me expressing her interest in participating said this: "We do not have a boat to contribute but will be willing to help along the banks or onshore, which ever place you need us most. Please let me know if there is anything we can bring or do to help YOU out."

She meant it, too. These two young women picked up every piece of trash they could reach along the banks and in the parking area at the canoe launch. They stacked the filled bags of trash that we collected. They signed in volunteers who showed up after we hit the river. They kept a tally of everything we collected. The event simply wouldn't have run as smoothly as it did if not for them.

Everyone had a great time and indicated an interest in participating in Keep Polk County Beautiful's next Peace River cleanup scheduled for June. KPCB will provide kayaks and canoes for this cleanup, but volunteers who have their own always are encouraged to bring them. That way, we can accommodate more volunteers who want to help, but don't have a kayak or canoe.

I'll share more information on the June cleanup as I get it. Until then, please remember to do your part to keep Polk County beautiful by:

• Not littering
• Not throwing cigarette butts out your vehicle window
• If you see a piece of trash on the ground, pick it up
• Recycle what you can
• Become a KPCB volunteer

For more information on getting involved with Keep Polk County Beautiful, visit the organization's Web site or call 676-7019

Here's A Reason to Get Out of the House Thursday Night

I just learned this week that Southeastern University is hosting a benefit concert for Keep Polk County Beautiful at its campus this Thursday at 7 p.m.

The great working relationship between KPCB and Southeastern University goes back for years. Southeastern, which focuses on teaching its students the value of servant leadership, holds a week of events each fall for incoming freshmen. During that week, one day is dedicated to putting the concept of servant leadership into action. Historically, event organizers have looked to KPCB to assist in pulling off this massive volunteer event that involves more than 600 students descending upon a community and picking up litter, painting, helping the elderly with yardwork, or whatever else needs to be done.

It's awesome that Southeastern is interested in doing something for KPCB in the way of a fundraiser so that this worthy organization can continue its good work.

Tickets to the show featuring Relo and Josh Varnadore are $5 at entry and proceeds will be donated to Keep Polk County Beautiful.

This concert, which will be held next to the school’s baseball field, is open to the public.

Southeastern University is located at 1000 Longfellow Blvd. For more information, call 863-667-5000.

Here's some information about Keep Polk County Beautiful: It is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and is an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

Created in 1994 and certified by Keep America Beautiful, Inc. in 1996, this organization works with civic, business, government, educational and community groups across the county to improve the aesthetic and ecological value of our communities through litter control and prevention, beautification, waste reduction, recycling and proper handling and disposal of solid waste.

Its mission is to empower individuals to take greater responsibility for enhancing their community environment.

Join Us for the Peace River Cleanup April 26

Great news! Since posting about our recent experience on the Peace River, I've been successful in putting together an impromptu cleanup on Saturday, April 26, 2008, from 9 a.m. until Noon. We will meet at the canoe launch on S.R. 60 in Bartow at 9 a.m.

Keep Polk County Beautiful will provide the trash bags, gloves, litter grabbers and water for the volunteers.

Daryl Stewart with the City of Bartow has agreed to provide a dumpster at the location so we can properly dispose of all the trash we collect.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office Environmental Crimes Unit will be on the river in their Go Devil to provide a safety briefing and to assist in getting collected trash up-river to the dumpster.

Finally and most importantly, I've already received e-mails from about six people who want to volunteer that morning.

To quote a line from Almost Famous, "It's all happening!"

If you have a jon boat, canoe or kayak and would like to help clean what we can of the Peace River on the 26th, please e-mail me by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 21: lorrie@lorriewalker.com. I will pick up the supplies on April 22.

Thank you to everyone who's agreed to volunteer so far, and thank you to KPCB, the Sheriff's Office and the City of Bartow for helping make this happen.

Declaring War on the Peace River

It's time that war was declared on the Peace River. War against littering, that is. Mike and I took our kayaks to the Peace on Saturday and put in at the S.R. 60 launch in Bartow. The river is surprisingly high right now, but unfortunately, along with the increased water, the recent rains brought an excessive amount of litter with it. Both sides of the river around the S.R. 60 overpass are clogged with this (click on photos for enlarged images):

And this:

We kayaked south and within 5 minutes of paddling, we encountered this:

And this:
This mass of weeds and trash spanned the entire width of the river and made navigating through it impossible. Among the many items floating in the river was a cooler with the lid missing. I picked it out of the water and filled it with as much trash as it would hold. Sadly, I made hardly a dent in the trash pile. But Mike and I have determined to return to the Peace and do what we can to help clean up this hideous sight.

We can't do it alone, though. This trash will be no match for just two people. So I'm asking my greenies, my bunny-hugging, environment-loving readers, to join us in a clean-up on April 26.

I have not the first detail yet, but I will spend the next week planning this and making it happen. If you have a jon boat, a canoe or kayaks, we need you! If you don't have any of these, but are willing to pick up trash along the river banks, we need you! If you can't assist in a clean-up, but would like to come serve water and snacks to the volunteers, we need you! If you can't do any of the above on April 26, but want to help do what you can to make the ENTIRE Peace River look like this:

Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Keep Polk County Beautiful, which has been working to educate children and adults on the importance of litter prevention, waste reduction and recycling for more than 12 years. Additionally, they still mobilize volunteers for good, old-fashioned clean-ups. Your donations can help pay for clean-up supplies, as well as water and snacks for the volunteers.

Another way you can help in the litter-prevention effort is to do your part to put litter in its place each and every day. Teach your children and the children in your neighborhoods not to litter. If you see a piece of litter, pick it up! Every piece of litter that gets properly disposed of is a piece of litter that won't end up in our beautiful lakes and rivers. Please don't make me break into "This Land is Your Land." But, if it'll get you to join us in the clean-up, I might be persuaded to sing a verse of it or two!

So here's the deal: if you want to help, please e-mail me at Lorrie@lorriewalker.com. I'll be in touch with more details later this week.

Keep Polk County Beautiful Wants Your Tires- And Your Dollar Bills

Chuck over at Lakeland Local published a post this week about the county's upcoming Hazardous Waste recycling event that will be held tomorrow, April 5 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. in Lakeland.

I'm adding some juicy information. Now keep in mind that blogging is simply gossip, according to esteemed City of Winter Haven Spokeswoman Joy "The Rumor Stops Here" Townsend, but this information is accurate:

In conjunction with the Hazardous Waste collection event, Keep Polk County Beautiful is hosting a tire recycling event at the same location: 3241 Lakeland Hills Boulevard in Lakeland.

Residents- read: NOT TIRE BUSINESSES- are invited to dispose of up to 10 regular-sized vehicle tires that are off the rims. By regular sized, I mean something that comes off of the average car, truck, wheelbarrow, lawn mower, bicycle, etc. Do not bring your bulldozer tires, your semi-truck tires or your monster mudders. These tires fill up the containers quickly.

Also, feel free to bring old cell phones and computer ink cartridges for KPCB to recycle.

Finally, this is a personal request: if you plan to dispose of any items during this free event, I ask that you bring a $1 bill to donate to Keep Polk County Beautiful.

This organization nearly had its county funding cut this year, due to necessary budget adjustments. The funding came through at the last minute, but as a member of the KPCB board of directors, I know it is a strong reality that the county may not be able to fund this worthwhile organization next fiscal year.

Keep Polk County Beautiful comes into contact with more than 100,000 volunteers and program participants each year. If each person would donate just $1, KPCB would not need county funding to continue the excellent work it does each day.

Let me put this into perspective: if you were to pay to dispose of your own tires at the Polk County landfill, you would be required to pay a fee PER TIRE. I'm just suggesting that you pay $1. Period.

I hope Polk County residents will come out and participate in this event on Saturday. Don't forget your dollar bill!

Volunteer for the Great American Cleanup

Wow...long time, no blog. Been mighty busy with work these days, but in the midst of all that, I've been able to carve out some time to give back to this community I love. I'm volunteering again, and it feels great to be contributing.

Recently I was invited to serve on the Keep Polk County Beautiful Board of Directors. It's not a huge stretch, really. I served as the organization's executive director for three years, so it's a no-brainer that I believe in the mission.

KPCB's signature event, The Great American Cleanup, is March 29, so that's what I am focusing on today. This is a day where thousands of volunteers band together to make this place a bit more beautiful. They pick up litter from parks, roadsides, schools and businesses. They plant flowers. They collect items for recycling.

Here's a sad fact: every year, KPCB gets more volunteers than the previous year, but they also pick up more trash. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't the work of a litter prevention organization accomplish so much that each year, less trash is picked up because there's less of it out there? I wish that were true.

You can help make that an attainable goal several ways:

1. Do your part by volunteering to participate in the Great American Cleanup.
2. If you have children, teach them not to litter. Your first step should be setting a good example and not being a litterbug yourself!
3. If you are a smoker, cigarette butts are litter, too. STOP THROWING THEM OUT YOUR CAR WINDOW AND ON THE GROUND.
4. If you live in unincorporated Polk County, the city of Lakeland, or several other cities that offer curbside recycling, participate in the program. If you don't have a recycling bin, call your Solid Waste Department and request one. They'll deliver it right to your door.
5. Cover your load. If you're hauling something in the back of your truck, cover it or properly secure it so it won't fly out. If trash blows out the back of your truck, you are littering.
6. Report people who you see littering. The KPCB Web site offers a way of doing so by submitting a Litter Trooper Report.

Volunteers who participate in the Great American Cleanup will receive free T-shirts and free passes to Historic Bok Sanctuary, while supplies last. For more information, call the KPCB office: 863-676-7019.

If you live in Lakeland and you can't participate in KPCB's March 29 event, sign up to participate in a Lakeland Clean & Beautiful event by calling 863-834-3306. Winter Haven residents can participate in Keep Winter Haven Beautiful's event on March 15 by calling 863-291-5662.

None of these dates are good for you? Don't worry. Great American Cleanup activities begin March 1 and run through May 31. Don't be afraid to gather your friends, family members and neighbors and do your own cleanup. KPCB and the other local Keep America Beautiful affiliates provide gloves, trash bags and litter grabbers for cleanups any time of year.

For those of you who don't live in Polk County, I invite you to visit the Keep America Beautiful Web site. Here, you can find an affiliate near you so you can get involved in the Great American Cleanup.