Published: November 01, 2009 07:00 pm      

Helping clean up

4-H helps community recycle

The 4-H Club in Stephens County founds something that was a big hit with many residents of the county. It worked well enough Saturday that it kept a steady flow of people to the Stephens County Fair and Expo Center.

The activity was recycling.

The 4-H members took a multitude of items including paper, plastic, metal, tires, cardboard, e-Waste (computers and related hardware), paint, glass, pesticide containers and oil.

Saturday’s recycling program was the brainchild of 4-H member Kelsey Shackelford, who was trying to find a way to tie leadership and citizenship skills together.

“Since the big deal is to go green and recycle, I thought that’s what we could do,” Shackelford said. “It’s been really good. It’s been busy.

“People have been coming since 8 this morning.”

While there were several 4-H members on hand for the event, two Boy Scout troops (434 and 417) also pitched in to help with the project. Shackelford said she appreciated the help because it allowed for the process to go quickly to prevent things from getting backed up.

Kim Davis, 4-H instructor for Stephens County, said she was impressed with how well the project was going and by the number of people who turned out to drop off recyclable.

Davis said Shackelford’s idea provided a great way to do outreach for the community.

“Each kid has a job,” Davis said. “Hers is leadership. She decided she wanted to do something that was both leadership and citizenship.

“This is more than just serving the county. We’ve crossed lines here today.”

It took quite a while for Shackelford to get things up for the big day. In fact, she made numerous phone calls to a variety of places to find out who recycles what.

Once she got that figured out and everything set up, the only issue she had remaining was her nervousness. Shackelford said she was afraid people in the community wouldn’t react to the project.

“I’m relieved that people showed up,” Shackelford said. “It turned out really good.

“A lot of people have brought stuff. We’ve had a little bit of everything.”

The 4-H Club has a list of companies that recycle. From there, Shackelford was able to get more names and numbers of such companies.

“It’s been a lot of work,” she said. “I’ve been calling people to see if they’ll come. It’s been worth it.

“A lot of them were willing to help.:

Davis said, aside from the large variety of items being recycled, the club was also using the project as an opportunity to collect poptabs for the Ronald McDonald House.

She said she’s happy with the result of the recycling program and has had people requesting for the club to do it again.

“It’s been educational for all of us,” Davis said.