Kentuckians are passionate about their sports teams. Southern and eastern Kentuckians tap that competitive spirit to make the region look its best during Roadside PRIDE Month in October, when counties and cities vie for trophies in a friendly rivalry to recruit volunteers and reduce litter.

As a part of that spirit, the City of Albany will once again use the PRIDE push to stump for local citizens to make an effort to clean up in the downtown Albany area. Although the entire month of October is set aside as the special cleanup month, Saturday, October 12 has be designated as this year’s Downtown Albany Cleanup Day.

Roadside PRIDE volunteers pick up litter from roads, streams, parks, campuses and other areas–just in time for scenic drivers through the region’s gorgeous fall foliage. Many local governments offer free trash drop-off events to encourage residents to spruce up their property. PRIDE provides cleanup supplies and assists local governments with trash disposal costs.

At the end of Roadside PRIDE Month, cities and counties earn points for the number of volunteers they recruited, the number of road miles cleaned and the amount of trash collected. Trophies are awarded to the top scorers in population-based classes.

To volunteer for your community’s Roadside PRIDE team, please call your local PRIDE Coordinators. They will provide your cleanup supplies, dispose of the trash you collect and add your contribution to your home team’s score.

For the PRIDE roadside cleanup, volunteers or anyone interested in helping out should contact Clinton County PRIDE Co-Coordinator/City of Albany PRIDE Coordinator Lyle Norris at 606-688-2288, or Tuesday Davis, Clinton County PRIDE Coordinator at 606-387-4633, tdavis@windstream.net.

More details on the Albany downtown cleanup will be published in next week’s Clinton County News.

PRIDE has assisted its service area in more ways than just helping keep roadsides clean, but through the Waste Water Treatment Programs, 156 homes in the county have received funding from the Homeowner Septic System Program and 64 homes have been affected by the Wastewater Construction Projects.

The following is a cleanup summary for Clinton County through the PRIDE program:

One stream / lake / river cleaned; five dumps eliminated; 93 roadways cleaned; 184 miles of roadway cleaned; four appliances collected; 6,206 tires collected; 1,494 bags of trash and 15 tons of trash collected; 2,034 volunteers contributed 4,944 volunteer hours; 50 bags of recycling.