Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful outlined the services it has provided to the community during a presentation before the Scottsbluff City Council Monday. Cassidy Baum, director of the organization since 2015, noted that it has been operating in the community since 1981. The organization is responsible for the Adopt-A-Spot program, which people have likely noticed on roadway signs as they travel the community.
The Adopt-A-Spot Programs serves as a fundraiser for different groups and organizations. Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful pays groups $75 per mile for their work. The Adopt-A-Spot Program also helps showcase the community and some of its amenities in their best condition.
Baum said that program expanded about three years ago to include a partnership with WNCC. "About three years ago, we began offering a marathon cleanup program," Baum said. "We pick up litter along the marathon route one time a year, usually over about two weeks before the marathon.
" The program also offers a pathway cleanup as part of its Adopt-A-Spot offering. "(Volunteers) are asked to pick up litter four times a year, they submit a report and we document all that through grants from the Nebraska Department of Energy. Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful also works with the City of Scottsbluff on efforts to protect drinking water.
The organization has a contract with the City of Scottsbluff and neighboring communities to mark storm drains in the community. She explained that they do a five-year rotation using maps of the community to go through different areas of the community and ensure that storm drains are marked. Also, Baum said that storm water education is among the initiatives that Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful offers.
Many people also use the organization's Pharmaceutical Take Back and its Earth Day Celebration, held each year in April. The organization contracts with Clean Harbors to dispose of those medications and keep them from being disposed of improperly and getting into the water stream. A second Pharmaceutical Take Back is held in the fall.
However, there are also pharmaceutical drop-off kiosks containers at the Scottsbluff Police Department and other locations. The Hazardous Waste Collection, which is part of the Earth Day Celebration, is one of the only ways for average citizens to dispose of hazardous waste items like lawn and garden chemicals. Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful is one of a number of organizations in which leaders are presenting information about as the Scottsbluff Council nears consideration of its budget and will approve upcoming requests.
Contact Maunette Loeks: [email protected] , 308-632-9054.
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