Keep Lancaster County Beautiful (KLCB) honored its most dedicated volunteers this year at a special presentation at the Dec. 12 Lancaster County Council meeting.
In KLCB’s first awards, the affiliate honored two of its founding fathers by naming the awards after them. The late KLCB board member Frank Ferguson and retiring County Councilman Larry Honeycutt’s names will be etched on these annual awards for years to come.
KLCB Coordinator Mandy Catoe said they wanted to recognize Ferguson and Honeycutt for their determined efforts in establishing the anti-litter affiliate. Ferguson was one of the first citizens to join KLCB’s board.
He and his wife picked up litter in their neighborhood for years. Seeing what a difference their efforts made, the Fergusons were instrumental in establishing KLCB.
Honeycutt energized the issue a couple years ago when he dumped a garbage bag of litter onto the floor of the council chambers at a meeting.
He had picked up litter from two streets in his neighborhood the day before.
All the council members got on board with the cleanup effort that night.
KLCB Vice Chair Clare McConaughay presented the Frank Ferguson Volunteer of the Year Award to Indian Land resident Joan Schuermeyer.
Ferguson’s widow, Ann, also a KLCB board member, was on hand to congratulate and thank Schuermeyer.
McConaughay praised Schuermeyer’ s efforts.
“Earlier today, Joan walked 14 miles and picked up 10 bags of roadside litter,” she said.
“This was just an ordinary day for her.”
KLCB Chair Greg Gregory awarded the Chester-Lancaster Disabilities and Special Needs Board with the Larry Honeycutt Volunteer Group of the Year Award.
On hand to accept the award were Karen Welch and Hope Mills, CLDSN day program supervisor.
Mills supervises the recycling program and Welch rinses the cans in preparation for recycling.
The group began recycling aluminum cans this summer. It has recycled nearly 200 pounds of aluminum cans, which is about 4,000 cans.
Gregory pointed out that the energy saved by recycling one aluminum can is the amount of energy required to power a TV for three hours.
That is 7,000 hours or almost 300 days of continuous TV.
Catoe said she has been amazed by the dedication and willingness of people to make a difference in the county.
“Volunteers are our backbone and they have made a difference in the litter issue this year,” she said.
“We are off to a great start, and, in 2023, we hope to recruit more volunteers and work together for a cleaner and greener county.”
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