Volunteers spend Friday cleaning up

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

It was a project that had been in the works for roughly three months and it came to fruition on Friday.

Approximately 30 volunteers from the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation, the City of Van Wert, ODOT and AEP in Van Wert and Lima worked together to help spruce up the area along U.S. 127, at the U.S. 30 access and exit ramps/overpass area.

The day-long volunteer effort was led by Amanda Miller, Workforce Development Development Manager with the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation.

“I drive by this area multiple times a day and I would complain about how it looked,” Miller explained. “One day (in March) I was at the economic development office complaining about it and a little later Rachelle (Mitchner) from AEP reached out to us and said they were looking for a community volunteer project in the Van Wert area, so I instantly said ‘this is our opportunity to not be community complainers and be community doers.’ I told Rachelle my idea about cleaning up this large area because this is kind of like the front door to Van Wert – a lot of people are coming into our community from this area.”

Mitchner was on board with the idea and Miller contacted Van Wert Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming and ODOT to see if a one-day clean-up event could be coordinated. After a few minutes, June 16 was chosen as the date, a day that turned out to be ideal weatherwise for some heavy duty labor.

“There are crews that are trimming up a lot of pine trees but the main part was cleaning out the landscaping,” Miller said. “The landscaping area had been so neglected and overgrown for so many years. Our main focus at this cleanup was to see what was in there and get the overgrowth and weeds out of there.”

Miller went on to say a similar event is a possibility during the fall, which would provide the opportunity to fill some bare spots caused by the removal of overgrowth.

“We’re not trying to make a million dollar landscaping area but at least things can be cleaned and maintained so when people are coming in and out of our community it looks presentable,” she said.