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If it’s September (and it is — can you believe it?), it must be time for Sherrie’s Sweep.
The Make It Shine committee of the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for the sixth annual event held in honor of Sherrie Hunter, a co-chair of Make It Shine. She is also the education and marketing director for the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority.
Sherrie’s Sweep came into being in 2005 to help raise Hunter’s spirits after she was injured in an accident at an out-of-state hospital. Hunter’s passion is a clean, green environment, and committee members could think of no better way to honor “The Trash Lady,” as she is affectionately called by hundreds of school children in Raleigh County.
Sherrie’s Sweep asks for volunteers to give a couple of hours of their time — this year’s dates are Sept. 24-25 — to get out and pick up just a little bit of litter to make Raleigh County shine.
As the years have progressed, more and more people have joined the Sweep every year. In 2009, more than 1,300 adults, children, professionals, blue-collar workers and everyone in between pitched in to pick up thousands of pounds of litter throughout Raleigh County.
Individuals, church groups, civic organizations, schools and other groups sign up at the Chamber of Commerce and are provided a bright vest, a litter stick, trash bags and gloves to pick up trash from the area which they sign up to clean.
While Sherrie’s Sweep does say thank you to Hunter, it also serves a broader purpose that is for the good of the community.
A landscape that is trashed by pop bottles, fast food wrappers, plastic bags and worse things does not advertise Raleigh County as a good place to live or start a business.
As chamber President Ellen Taylor says, “People don’t want to go places that are unkempt. The perception is that if a place is unkempt, it is probably not safe.”
Also, a littered neighborhood devalues property values, bringing the consequences down to the homeowners’ level.
We would like to see the number of people who turn out for the 2010 Sherrie’s Sweep surpass last year’s total of 1,300.
You can do your part by contacting the chamber at 304-252-7328, 1-877-987-3847 or chamber@brccc.com to register your group.
It’s only a couple of hours out of your day. And it will brighten not only Sherrie’s smile, but Raleigh County’s landscape, as well.
