Rotary Club has productive Renew Our City efforts

The Demopolis Rotary Club had a productive start to the morning Thursday when it collected approximately 50 pounds of trash in just an hour of work.

The collection efforts came as part of the club’s Renew Our City emphasis, an initiative it launched this year to work in concert with the popular Renew Our Rivers project of Alabama Power and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A group of five Rotarians gathered at Demopolis Walmart Thursday at 8 a.m. and proceeded litter collection efforts that stretched from Mariah Avenue to Fitz-Gerald Clinic.

“It clocks 1.3 miles and, considering both sides of the road, that’s about two and a half miles worth of trash,” Demopolis Rotary Club member and event organizer Diane Brooker said.

The trash will be deposited in the dumpsters at Demopolis City Landing where the team working with Renew Our Rivers will set up shop Friday and Saturday.

“The Renew Our Rivers theory is any trash that’s picked up around town keeps it from the rivers,” Brooker said. “They count not only the trash they get out of the river but the trash they keep from the river.”

The Rotary Club is also encouraging individuals around town to focus extra effort this weekend on cleaning up around their homes and businesses and immediate areas along their streets.

“Just asking each individual, just take a look. You just kind of get complacent. I took a walk around my office building and realized the pressure washer guy hasn’t been here,” Brooker said. “I called my lawn service guy. Just take a little extra special touch and pick up the trash and clip the crepe myrtles the way they’re supposed to.”

Brooker indicated she was pleased with the work the small group accomplished Thursday morning and is optimistic about where the Renew Our City initiative could go in future years.

“I think it was great. We spoke with Kiwanis and they said to give them a heads up that they’d like to participate with us next year,” Brooker said. “When you see what just five people did in an hour, if we had five people from every organization, we might could go from one Demopolis entrance to the other on Highway 80. It really wouldn’t take that many people to make that happen.”