By Mark Ross

This past weekend, a group gathered at the Hub downtown to kick off a citywide cleanup. Hope City Board member Mark Ross, who facilitated the event, said several groups participated this year: Hope United Methodist Church adults, First United Methodist Church youth, Hope’s Children Church of Hope, Hope Downtown Network, Hope Beautification Committee, Hope High School band members, Mayor Don Still and First Lady Betsy Still, Hope Police Department officers and personnel, Hope Fire Department, Hope Parks and Recreation personnel, Hope Street Department personnel, and the Hope Sanitation and Wastewater personnel.

Mayor Still said, “We had a really good group turn out for Saturday’s cleanup. I was really enthused about the people there and had several teams picking up. We covered a lot of streets. It’s really nice to see people take pride in their community. I want to thank all of them for their volunteering."

Sanitation Director Nathaniel Holifield said approximately 42 trailer loads of trash and rubbish were picked up by the city staff and over 42 bags were picked up by the volunteers and taken to the landfill.  A total of 786 cubic yards of trash and rubbish were deposited into the city landfill.

Mark Ross also wanted to thank all the volunteers and city staff for a successful cleanup day. "We did all of this in about four hours. We, as citizens of Hope, should take pride in the community we live in; I know these volunteers have the love and pride of our community."