<strong><em>Cleanup and beautification efforts to take place nationwide as part of America’s largest community improvement event led nationally by Keep America Beautiful</em></strong> Volunteers across the state are rallying to improve their local parks, public spaces, waterways, hiking trails, sidewalks and streets by participating in the Department of Environmental Protection’s WV Make It Shine Statewide Cleanup, which takes place Apr. 1-14. The City of Lewisburg will kick-off its activities with cleanup on Friday, Apr. 13, at 10 a.m. at Hollowell Park. To volunteer, call 304-645-1833. The City of Lewisburg’s WV Make It Shine activities are part of a larger national effort, Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup that is expected to involve close to 3 million people. Activities will include beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling collections, picking up litter and removing scrap tires, planting trees and flowers, and conducting educational programs and litter-free events. Last year, over 5,300 participants removed over 169,000 pounds of litter and debris and over 2900 tires from West Virginia’s public lands. Cleanup sites last year included state parks, playgrounds, school grounds, lakes, rivers, and streams. The WV Make It Shine program is part of the Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan initiative under the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. All of West Virginia’s volunteer-driven cleanup programs fall under REAP-The Next Generation.
