Help needed for Jacksonville’s 5th annual Town Brook Clean Up

By Gary Scott on October 26, 2016 at 1:03pm

Volunteers are needed for the 5th annual Town Brook Clean Up this weekend.

Jacksonville alderman Lori Large-Oldenettel is looking for 80 to 120 volunteers over the age of 18 to help clean up the banks of the Town Brook this Saturday.

Large-Oldenettel hopes to see a good turnout.

“It’s really about just cleaning up the banks of the Town Brook and making sure that our waterways in our community is kept clean. Illinois College, MacMurray College students, they usually are big players and usually send between 50 and 60 volunteers to the event. We encourage all volunteers to wear long pants and soled shoes and we’ll supply gloves, litter grabbers and trash bags,” says Large-Oldenettel.

Registration for volunteers starts at 8:30 at the Diamond Plaza at 803 South Diamond Street. Large-Oldenettel explains how volunteers will be grouped that morning and what they can expect.

“We’ll break each of the groups into five or six people, they’ll have two or three blocks to cover. They’ll just put all of their trash and unwanted items into a trash bag and then the City of Jacksonville will have crews on that day and they’ll be running up and down the Town Brook and picking up our waste. It’s really fast, it’s really fun, and we’re hopeful that down the road it will turn into a nice walking path once we get the brook stabilized and get the flow of water working the way that we really want it to,” Large-Oldenettel says.

Volunteers will be divided into teams with a team captain and will use the “buddy system” for safety purposes. All supplies will be provided and volunteers are asked to wear soled shoes.

Those interested in signing up to be a volunteer can call or text Large-Oldenettel at 217-370-4597, or check out the Facebook page at “Town Brook Shoreline Clean Up.”