Volunteers still needed to help with beautification in The Cov
COVINGTON, Ky. – If you enjoy the outdoors and take pride in your community, then you’re the very person to help volunteer in The Cov for Saturday’s Great American Cleanup event, Covington’s largest annual volunteer day of service.
This year, Keep Covington Beautiful (KCB), a program of The Center for Great Neighborhoods, partners with the City of Covington’s Solid Waste & Recycling and Urban Forestry Divisions to organize the local version of the Great American Cleanup, inspiring hundreds of volunteers across 15 locations in Covington.
Depending upon the location – which can be a median, street corner, park or wooded area – the job might include picking up trash and yard debris, graffiti removal, painting, brush removal, weeding, spreading mulch, pruning bushes, repairing neighborhood signs, and planting seasonal flowers.
This year’s event takes place from 9 a.m. to noon, on Saturday, April 26.
Mayor Ron Washington will officially declare “Great American Cleanup Day,” in The Cov, with a written proclamation. The City has long supported efforts to improve the quality of life for all who live, work and play in Covington through litter prevention, beautification and recycling.
"We’re grateful to see the community come together in support of keeping Covington beautiful. The Great American Cleanup is one of our largest events each year, both in terms of volunteer turnout and cleanup sites. I’m continually amazed by what we’re able to accomplish together through this event." Jameela Saalah, Director of Program Impact with the Center for Great Neighborhoods.
Locations registered for the event include:
- Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky
- Hellmann Creative Center
- Botany Hills
- Austinburg
- Benton Road
- Westside
- Old Seminary Square
- Levassor Park
- Mutter Gottes
- Peaselburg
- Randolph Park Pollinator Garden
- Wheeler Street
- Garrard and Scott Street
Holmes High School and Wallace Woods will hold their own cleanups, although neither site is accepting outside volunteers.
Here’s the Covington Great American Cleanup webpage, full of good information about the event.
They are currently not excepting anymore sites, however, volunteers or volunteer groups can register here to be assigned to one of the cleanup sites.
Thanks to the City’s ongoing support, and Rumpke Waste and Recycling’s sponsorship and participation in the cleanup, KCB will provide trash bags, gloves, grabbers, tools, trash bag removal, snacks, and a giveaway for every volunteer.
Beautification and protecting pollinators
The City has long supported efforts and initiatives to spread awareness and bring the community together to work toward the city’s beautification, which includes sustaining its pollinator gardens in Covington Parks.
In 2017 Covington’s mayor signed a proclamation to participate in the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge. Throughout the country, local governments took action to help save the monarch butterfly. By taking the pledge, the City committed to restoring its habitat and encouraging residents to do the same through education as to how they can make a difference.
Starting in June, Covington Parks and Recreation will host several Monarch Pledge events that educate and inform about the monarch butterfly as well as an opportunity to refresh the city’s pollinator gardens. Pollinators can include bees, beetles, wasps, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, bats, or even small mammals. The creatures assist a vital life stage for all flowering plants, which are essential for healthy ecosystems.
An ongoing way to enjoy pollinators and the work they do is to plant and maintain pollinator-friendly gardens. Covington has 8 pollinator garden locations: Goebel Park, Randolph Park, Peaselburg Little People’s Park, Barb Cook Park, Austinburg Park, Devou Park, Highland and Benton, and Hands Pike Park.
Covington’s pollinator gardens need volunteers throughout the year to help support regular maintenance like weed removal and mulching. Contact Covington Parks and Recreation, Haley Snook at Haley.snook@covingtonky.gov, to sign up to help sustain a pollinator in your neighborhood.
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