Two Thousand Acre CLEANup events will be held Saturday, one from 8 a.m.– 2 p.m. and the other from 1-5 p.m. The events are part of Keep Tennessee Beautiful’s statewide Trashercise campaign. The goal is to clean litter up across several properties in Meigs County, including TWRA, TVA and Cherokee Removal Memorial Park. The events are sponsored by Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Cleveland State Community College, The CSCC Wildlife Society, Land Trust for Tennessee, and Morning Pointe Senior Living.
According to Robert L. Brewer, Jr., associate professor at Cleveland State, “These historical landmarks and vital habitats are being ruined by litter and we want to do something about it.”
Celebrating March as Keep Tennessee Beautiful Month, Saturday’s event is also part of KTnB’s latest initiative, Trashercise, which encourages litter pick-up while promoting the exercise benefits of the activity.
“Trashercise is an exciting year-long campaign we chose to launch during Keep Tennessee Beautiful Month – March, 2021,” said Missy Marshall, executive director of KTnB. “These events give our citizens an opportunity to get outside, do something productive for the community, while still social distancing. It’s a way to tap into the volunteer spirit of Tennesseans.”
Trashercise is an idea by Leiper's Fork resident Aubrey Preston. Roadside trash made him mad, but instead of just “yelling at the wall” about it, he took action. “I was at the gym one day watching people work hard on exercise machines around me. The thought crossed my mind: what if we could harness all this energy and do something good with it? So we started Trashercise, and it’s been very effective for our community. We’re honored the state of Tennessee has decided to adopt Trashercise and do something big with it.”
Taking the project statewide and encouraging other communities to start their own Traschercise Tribe directly accomplishes the mission of Keep Tennessee Beautiful: to educate and inspire Tennesseans to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment.
Litter is a burden to the state both financially and ecologically, costing Tennessee more than $15 million annually. In order to end littering, behavioral changes and public awareness are a necessity.
Sign up now for the Thousand Acre event at ThousandAcreCLEANup. Each event is limited to 50 people, and individuals may work both shifts. Sign-up is not mandatory to participate.
Volunteers gather at 6800 Blythe Ferry Lane, Birchwood, Tn. Supplies are furnished, lunch will be served, and each volunteer will receive a free T-shirt, courtesy of Greg Vital.
For additional information, visit KeepTnBeautiful.