Cottonwood AZ Boys and Girls Club earned money picking up trash

Cottonwood AZ (October 13, 2012) –Folksville USA Adopt-A-Highway program sponsored a cash prize essay contest for the Cottonwood Boys and Girls Club youth participating in the Folksville USA Litter-Aid Stand 101 and Cash4Trash program to earn money for their club.

Working together, to-date, the Cottonwood boys and girls have earned approximately $200 picking up trash during its Folksville USA litter clean-ups. The essay contest was designed as an opportunity for the boys and girls to be recognized for individual effort.

The Folksville USA Adopt-A-Highway asked that essays address for judging 1) what each learned as participants in its highway clean up program, 2) what the solutions are to changing litterers habits, 3) how does highway trash impact their communities and economies, and 4) what can be done personally to make a difference in preventing highway and community litter?

The winning Cottonwood Boys and Girls Club essay was written by Saquioa Trujillo. She won the $105 Folksville USA Grand Prize for writing the following essay which will be sent to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and others involved in cleaning up Arizona highways and communities:

Cottonwood AZ Boys and Girls Club earns money for club activities by helping clean up Arizona highway trash

Saquioa Trujillo writes…One of the biggest things that I learned while picking up trash is that it can really cause a lot of damage to the environment and all of the animals that live there. I also learned that it is really hard work picking up trash after everyone.

I think it would be a lot easier if everyone would just stop throwing trash on the road and put it in a garbage can. The experience was also hot and tiring. I did not know that it was going to be as hard as it was or that I would be as tired as I was when we finished. We had to be there at 6:00 in the morning and did not get finished until 10:30 that same morning.

Even though it was a long four and a half hours, I’m so glad I have done it. It is an experience that I will remember for a long time. I have driven by all that trash many times and never thought how much work it is to keep the roads looking nice and the environment clean. I don’t think other people think about it either cause we picked up so much trash.

We had to put on extremely bright vests so drivers could see us and we don’t get in an accident with cars. Then, they gave us all our equipment and we headed out in pairs of two down the side of the road.The amount of road that we had to walk was about two miles.

Cottonwood AZ Boys and Girls Club pick up highway litter to keep its Arizona beautiful

I could not believe how much garbage we found and most of the trash was cigarette butts.

Cigarette butts I think are the deadliest pieces of trash along the road. Not only can living animals eat them, it is also very dangerous to throw your cigarette butt out the window because it can set the grass and trees on fire. As we walked and picked up trash, we found two dead animals, a crow, and a coyote. I think if more people had to go and pick up trash that early in the morning and for four hours, they would not throw as much of their trash out the window.

I also think that picking up your trash can make a huge difference and this is one of the ways I am going to help. I won’t throw my trash out the window anymore and I am going to tell other people to be more careful too.

The more people that help, the better the environment gets and the better it looks because with all the trash, it looks absolutely disgusting. Nobody really wants to live in a place that looks disgusting and that hurts our environment. They don’t really want to hurt the animals either.

The SedonaEye.com applauds our young citizen activists. Congratulations to Saquioa Trujillo and the Cottonwood Boys and Girls Club for participating in an important environmental health and public safety program, Folksville USA. We recognize that many area businesses support the Folksville USA program financially and with donations of litter clean up supplies like Cottonwood’s Pawn Palace on 401 S. Calvary Way and Home Depot. Keep up the good work, Folksvillers, and we thank you all on behalf of a beautiful and safe Arizona!

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