Volunteers needed for cleanup

Published 10:29 pm Monday, April 9, 2012

The Great American Cleanup is coming to Suffolk on April 27, and volunteers still are needed to help pick up litter at several sites around Suffolk.

The two-day event is part of Keep America Beautiful and is being coordinated regionally by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Suffolk has three sites that are targeted for cleanup.

“Littering is such a problem in the area no matter what we seem to do,” said Julia Hillegass, public information and community affairs administrator for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. “We get a lot of our economic vitality as a region through tourism. Litter is a deterrent to that.”

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The three projects planned in Suffolk include litter and debris clean-ups at Shingle Creek and on two stretches of roadways on Bennett’s Pasture Road and King’s Highway.

“Shingle Creek was picked because it’s in such bad shape,” Hillegass said.

In addition, volunteers will pick up litter along Bennett’s Pasture Road between Kings Highway and Nansemond Parkway, as well as on Kings Highway from Sleepy Hole Road to Bennett’s Pasture Road.

Hillegass said there are enough volunteers for the Shingle Creek site, but the roadway cleanups still need volunteers.

“It’s a fairly easy way to make a difference in your community,” Hillegass said.

For more information or to register as a volunteer, visit www.askhrgreen.org.