BISHOPVILLE – Assateague Coastal Trust volunteers cleared more than 100 pounds of trash from the Bishopville area with a recent cleanup.
On Martin Luther King Day, nearly two dozen volunteers, led by Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT), gathered in Bishopville to pick up trash. Debbi Dean, community engagement coordinator for ACT, said community cleanups encouraged people to get involved in supporting their local environment.
“They create the opportunity for people to take action and rally around a safe, healthy environment,” Dean said.
Volunteers on Martin Luther King Day, who included area residents as well as Boy Scouts and ACT supporters, gathered at Bishopville Park to walk the bridge and prong area as well as a short stretch of Hotel Road and Jarvis Road. Debris they picked up included bottles, cans, scrap metal, a tire and hubcaps, among other things. Dean said ACT was grateful to JDog Junk Removal & Hauling of Ocean City for their donation of trash disposal. In all 103 pounds of trash was removed from the area.
Dean, pointing out that the Bishopville cleanup was on Martin Luther King Day, referenced his belief that more could be done together than apart. She said volunteers had proven that.
“They came together to make a difference, achieve purpose and to effect change as they picked up discarded trash along the roadside,” she said.
Dean said ACT was in the process of scheduling more community cleanups.
“Trash clean-ups are important for supporting tourism and local economies, protecting wildlife and raising public awareness of the threat of litter to both wildlife and communities,” she said. “Prolific litter in communities and neighborhoods can misrepresent the area and contribute to health risks.”
She encourages anyone interested in participating in a cleanup or interested in volunteering with ACT to contact her at [email protected].
“It is an exciting, meaningful process towards stopping waste,” she said.
