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EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR AIKEN COUNTY LITTER AWARENESS WEEK

Cleanups and Special Events Are Set for Volunteers

Columbia, SC – Plans for special events and community cleanups are underway in Aiken County.  Litter Awareness Week organizers are shipping out supplies to volunteers and are gearing up for the kickoff on Saturday, April 14, 2007.   Citizens are encouraged to sign up for community cleanups.

On Tuesday, April 10^th PalmettoPride will host a radio remote from 4:00pm to 6:00pm at Reid's.  Cleanup supplies will be given out to groups who come by to sign up for a cleanup. 

Along with the numerous cleanups planned throughout the week are two radio remotes:

-          Saturday, April 14, 10am – 12pm at Burnettetown Town Hall

-          Friday, April 20, 10am – 12pm at Hopeland Gardens, Whiskey Road at Mead

Aiken County Public Works and PalmettoPride, partners in this weeklong cleanup event, have worked closely with county leaders and municipal representatives to promote a well-rounded event that focuses on litter eradication and beautification. 

“While litter pickups are an important part of this event, we also wanted to ensure that we had a more holistic approach that included lots of education materials,” said Jennifer Fisher, Program Coordinator for PalmettoPride.  “We want to educate people on the effects of litter one our environment as well as in our communities and economic development.”

Aiken County Litter Awareness Week will take place April 14 – 24, 2007, and is sponsored by Aiken County and PalmettoPride.  Litter Awareness Week aims to encourage volunteer participation throughout the county, involving not only government groups to clean up trash, but neighborhoods, schools and community groups. 

Each municipality that participates in Aiken County Litter Awareness Week will receive a $1,000 beautification.  Neighborhood associations and community groups in each municipality will be eligible to receive beautification grants.  Students and youth organizations will compete for prize money for cleanups and recycled art projects.

Pride Week, a PalmettoPride program, is a week-long cleanup event that has occurred in nine other counties.  PalmettoPride aims to host a Pride Week in every county.  To date, Pride Week has brought together 18,920 participants and removed 303,000 pounds of trash from South Carolina communities.

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