Workers help turn town into 'Cleanbrier'
GREENBRIER — Earth Day is over, but that does not mean the City of Greenbrier was left in the dust.
The Greenbrier Chamber of Commerce sponsored their first “Cleanbrier Campaign,” which drew more than 130 workers from more than 17 businesses that sent individuals and crews out to work. Even some store owners walked the roads with their employees. Workers were bent over and stooping many times over 13 miles of Greenbrier’s roads and highways to pick up trash and recyclables. They wore identifying T-shirts and armed with their trash bags, gloves, boots and sometimes even masks, worked on many hot days.
Greenbrier’s firefighters cleaned the Greenbrier City Park, about 80 students from Greenbrier High School covered Green Valley Drive; Office Depot workers covered Bannon Drive; and First Service Bank employees were out in big numbers too. The GHS students designed the Cleanbrier posters that were posted around town.
Other businesses that participated were Cross Point Baptist Church, The Regester Family, Home Bank of Arkansas, Greenbrier Church of the Nazarene, Farmer’s Insurance, First Security Bank, Edward Jones Investments, McDonald’s, Same Old Joe’s, Taco Bell, Greenbrier Therapeutic Massage, Lions Club, Greenbrier Super Center and Keep Faulkner County Beautiful.
All week, people covered Greenbrier roads and streets, working red-faced and flushed in the warm sun when temperatures rose to 80 degrees. By 3:30 p.m. on Earth Day (April 22), they all dragged their bags of trash and recyclables to the Greenbrier Event Center to log in. Some bags were so heavy it took two people to unload and drag to the pile of bags.
All week, workers had been throwing bags into a big dumpster parked behind the Event Center. Amie Regester, executive director of Greenbrier Chamber of Commerce, logged in more than 125 bags of litter and 30 bags of recyclables.
Highway 225, Wilson Farm Road, Bannon Road and Highway 65, as well as the City Park, were just a few of the roads covered by eager workers. Michelle Pettis and Quanna Love, from Office Depot, were working together on Bannon Road. Pettis said, “A man kept coming out from his home on Bannon and offering us water. That was so nice.”
Love added, “He even brought us a pick up stick with a point on it that he made for us so we would not have to bend over.”
The Keep Arkansas Beautiful campaign provided signs and T-shirts and prizes were raffled off to some of the workers who gathered around an ice-filled bucket that held free bottles of cold water. McDonald’s gave free French fry coupons. Home Depot sent an office bag. Massages from Greenbrier Therapeutic Massage were awarded and Taco Bell and Same Old Joe’s gave food coupons. Workers were jovial, but tired, as they completed their tasks and dragged their bags to be logged in.
Cleanbrier’s efforts were all a part of the Great American Cleanup project. Regester commented, “This was only our first year to join the national effort and we did very well. Next year will be even bigger.”
