ALTON – The forecast for a nearly biblical amount of rain will not wash away the spirits of those involved in this year's Alton Fall City-Wide Litter Cleanup.
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Executive Director of PRIDE, Inc, Monica Semnacher, who is co-chairing this event with Sara McGibany and Emily Keener through Alton Main Street's Design Committee, which organizes it twice a year, every year. In fact, the prediction for lots of rain draws further attention to the need to keep Alton's streets clean. That much water running will take trash and other pollutants to the river, where it eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico and becomes toxic to a lot of ocean life. It does damage on its way to the ocean as well.
To help prevent that and to make Alton an overall better and cleaner place to live, the city-wide cleanup begins at several locations around the city where volunteers have stations for gloves, bags and directions to areas needing the most attention.
Those stations are located Downtown at 200 W. Third Street (The Riverbender.com building), Upper Alton at Sherry's Snacks and North Alton at Joe K's Restaurant. Donuts will also be available for volunteers.
“Rain is expected this weekend, but don't let that stop you,” Semnacher said in a Facebook message. “Just be prepared and help us keep the litter from our waterways.”
This past spring saw a record attendance for the city-wide litter cleanup, and Semnacher is optimistic for a good showing Saturday, despite the weather. She said the timing of the event is perfect for the upcoming Jazz and Wine Festival, which has since been moved into the Argosy due to weather, and the Mississippi Earthtones Festival a week from this Saturday, which also coincides with the Alton Expo.
"I always look forward to our citywide clean ups!” Semnacher sad. “It's a great way to meet your neighbors and It inspires a lot of civic pride in all of us to do the work that's needed to keep Alton beautiful. Hopefully the effort inspires all of us to hold on to our trash better until we reach a trash bin."
More than 70 community organizations and several volunteers have worked together to make this event a success during each of its incarnations.
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