It is time to clean up around the city.
That is the message being spread by Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie, city officials and members of Keep Columbia and Marion County Beautiful. Volunteers are needed for what is being called Operation Clean Sweep, an event set for Aug. 5 in Columbia.
McKenzie said everyone is invited to help clean up around the city in an event similar to one he helped spearhead in April 2014.
“The community came together and cleaned up,” he said. “It was made into a challenge because I was told that no more than 50 people would participate and not to expect more than 25. We had more than 175 sign in and over 200 participate that day. It’s fun and later on that year, we had a second cleanup day.”
McKenzie said with a change in jobs for him at the Columbia Police Department and other changes in the city, the organization of the event faded and none has been held in three years.
“However, Yvette Cutrer (Keep Columbia and Marion County Beautiful) and Carolyn Burton (vice president of the Marion County Development Partnership, Chamber Division) approached me the other day and asked about the project, following along the lines that the Columbia Board of Aldermen and I have set up,” he said. “So they approached me about doing Operation Clean Sweep 2017. We picked Aug. 5 as the first available date. It will be after some events in July, and it will also be the weekend before school kicks off in Columbia.”
McKenzie said cleaning up as the school year begins is important to the image of the city.
“Hopefully we can make a significant impact on our city as people come to our community for ballgames or whatever,” he said. “We want people to be proud of what is seen.”
Operation Clean Sweep is soliciting volunteers, donors and equipment to help make the event a success, according to McKenzie.
“We’re going to kickoff about 7 a.m. and run through about noon,” he said. “We’re asking people to meet in the parking lot in front of the Marion County Development Partnership on Courthouse Square. We are looking for people to bring in donations. We need items like rakes, shovels, paint, carpenter tools, plants, flowers, gloves, garbage bags, water and more. If your business would like to challenge another business, it could make it interesting. You can contact Yvette or Carolyn, or you can contact me at City Hall.”
The MCDP can be contacted at (601) 736-6385 and City Hall’s phone number is (601) 726-8201.
“You can contact us if your business wants to challenge another business to see who can bring the most employees and do the most significant work,” McKenzie said. “We would love to see the type of friendly rivalry between businesses. It could be anything from weeding bushes to painting railings, fences and posts, whatever the need might be around town. It could be cleaning off sidewalks. I know that before, we uncovered several sidewalks that had not seen sunlight in many years.
Work will not be concentrated in any particular area of the city, according to McKenzie. Heis enthusiastic about the number of people who have already expressed interest in the event.
“We’re hoping to top the participation levels from the previous event in 2014,” he said. “We’d love to see more than 200 people turn out. We’ll meet in front of the Marion County Development Partnership that morning. We will have some team leaders in place. If you have any kind of cleaning tools, shovel, rake, blower, weed eater, show up with that. Bring eye protection, ear protection and gloves. If you can’t clean, trim or paint, but you want to do something, come down and hand out water. We’ll need volunteers doing all sorts of tasks.”
McKenzie said the event is designed to bring people together and to spark pride in the community.
“This is just one step in the right direction for cleaning up the appearance of our town,” he concluded.
Pictured Above: In 2014, Operation Clean Sweep was a huge success. | Photo by Mark Rogers
