Keep Forsyth County Beautiful Volunteers Team Up With Sheriffs To Clean Roadsides

Weekend commuters in Forsyth County may have noticed that the roadsides looked a little spiffier Sunday morning.

Volunteers worked tirelessly alongside Forsyth County sheriffs as part of the Keep Forsyth County Beautiful campaign, a local subsidiary of Keep America Beautiful.

Officers paired up with volunteers for the first time since the campaign started in 1992. They assisted teams in charge of sprucing up high-traffic areas.

Officers with the department reached out to KFCB to inquire if they needed anything from the sheriff's department, which led to officers being positioned to help direct traffic in potentially dangerous areas.

"With us out there helping to direct traffic, it keeps everyone a little safer," Robin Regan, the social media deputy with the department, said. He said that the department has plans to assist in clean-ups and other events in the future.

There were 385 volunteers at the Saturday event, who picked up a total of 273 bags of trash and recycling in 27 areas of the county, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

KFCB started when the community designed it first 10-year solid waste management program, which required a need for a group to carry out the education and public outreach portion of the deal. This spurred a group of private citizens already concerned with environmental preservation to begin meeting and organize cleanups open to the public.

Keep America Beautiful officially recognized the group in summer of 1994.

“The mission of Keep Forsyth County Beautiful is to cooperate with government, businesses, schools, civic organizations and citizens in a joint effort to improve beautification, litter reduction and recycling,” according to the nonprofit’s homepage.

The group also offers educational programs to schools, businesses, clubs, civic groups and community members on solid waste management and water quality in an effort to reduce waste and foster eco-friendly practices.