2008 30 MPH - Environmental Security
From Here to St. Louis
by Jeff Maierhofer
March 17, 2008
462 student volunteers. 51 faculty members. 9 bus drivers. 5 members from the Army National Guard. 17 emergency personnel. 11 FFA Alumni members. 37 miles of roadside and 1 gorgeous day. That’s all it took for Seneca High School to provide a little “Environmental Security” for the roads between Seneca, Kinsman and Verona on March 20th as the 2008 version of 30 MPH was completed. Organized by the Seneca FFA, the 8th annual event created a total of 233 miles of roadsides that have been cleaned by the students of Seneca High School since 2001. That is the same distance in miles from Seneca to St. Louis, Missouri.
“It’s amazing, just amazing, how much can get done with everyone cooperating,” said Alaina Marik, 30 MPH Co-Chairperson. “To see 500 yellow shirts, all the buses and all the emergency vehicles is something that I won’t forget.”
Major financial assistance was obtained from grants from Alliance Pipeline and CF Industries. Pepsi donated beverages for the day and prizes for volunteers. Some student volunteers will have cleaner vehicles because of the free car washes donated by SuperWash of Seneca. Judi’s Embroidery and Bellettini’s of Seneca were generous in their assistance with shirts and food respectively. Waste Management once again provided a dumpster and hauling of garbage at no charge.
A welcome addition to this year’s crew was the Illinois Army National Guard who provided four vehicles for security. Some of the soldiers were even seen picking up trash in the ditch. The Guard also provided some appreciation prizes for the volunteers.
Transportation was provided by First Student, Seneca High School and Seneca Grade School. Several FFA Alumni members were involved in retrieving the garbage bags and taking them to the dumpster.
Security was provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation, Grundy County Emergency Management Agency, the fire departments of Seneca, Mazon and Verona, the ambulance squads from Mazon and Seneca Also, the sheriff departments from Grundy and LaSalle County, Brookfield Township Road District, the Mayor of Kinsman, Mark Harlow and the Illinois State Police. “We really appreciate all these agencies pitching in with many of the personnel volunteering their time” stated Bruno Rentauskas, 30 MPH Co-Chairman.
According to Marik, “Although we accomplished our short term goal of cleaning the ditches, we have a long way to go figure out a way to change people’s attitudes about throwing garbage out of their vehicles. Hopefully they will see what we did, or read about it, and think twice about polluting what we all have to look at.”
