HAMILTON, Ohio — A Hamilton neighborhood group cleaned up area neighborhoods for 17 days straight and gave out grant money for neighbors to do the same.
For one family of four, cleaning up is not a chore. It’s tradition.
“We go out as a family a lot,” volunteer Shawna Smith said. “We have our own grabbers home and gloves, and we go out in the summertime and love to pick up trash.”
This time, the Smiths volunteered to clean up Highland park, a Hamilton neighborhood.
“We like to give back to the city of Hamilton because we love it so much, and we also love our planet,” Smith said.
They’re not alone. They were part of a team of volunteers picking up trash across all of Hamilton’s 17 neighborhoods, and they’re did it for 17 days straight.
“Trash, litter, debris — it’s ugly. It gets in the way,” said Kathy Klink, 17Strong Board Chair. “It’s not safe to be driving around with broken bottles and all the rest, so we decided, ‘let’s do this.'”
The group 17Strong organized the clean up event. They’re also planning to give out several grants, including $2,500 grants to neighbors in the area who clean up their own yards.
“Part of our philosophy is to have the safest, the cleanest and the most engaged neighborhood, so with cleanliness being a part of that people may apply for a grant and do whatever they need and get some dollars to empower them,” Klink said.
For volunteers like the Smith family, it’s a life lesson they hope their kids carry on.
“You can make the world a better place with something very small as picking up a piece of trash,” Smith said.
For more information about the group’s grant programs, click here.
