A Make it Shine event, organized by House of Delegates candidate Roger Vannoy, was held this past Sunday along the Meadow River. A total of 11 tires, one discarded wheel barrow, and five bags of trash were collected along the river’s edge.
“We want to show the Meadow River Valley-area that we do care,” Vannoy said after the event. “They’ve been neglected by all politicians, so we chose to go out there and do a clean-up.”
Vannoy has participated in numerous clean-up events across West Virginia, noting that Make it Shine is a statewide organization that sponsors such events throughout the month of April.
“They send you trash bags, gloves, and grabbers,” Vannoy stated. “You gather the trash, and then they come pick it up within a couple of days for free.”
In addition to the trash collected, Vannoy said, there was a bulldozer tread in the river that his team could not recover, as well as what appeared to be an abandoned homeless encampment which will require a dumpster to remove.
“It looked like someone had run the homeless off, but all of their stuff was still there,” Vannoy explained. “There were no needles found, but we did find other drug paraphernalia. There was definite substance abuse going on, and it’s very sad.”
“It just goes to show that we have homeless, and that substance abuse is real in our county,” Vannoy added.
To learn more about the West Virginia Make it Shine Program, visit dep.wv.gov.
