As Adopt a Highway celebrates its 20th anniversary in Arizona, the program is honoring some of its most dedicated volunteers who have faithfully helped clean up litter along our state’s highways. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is saying thank you for their years of service by treating them to a night at the ballpark to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks in action on June 14th.
Five volunteer groups & 3 individuals representing Adopt a Highway districts statewide were nominated to attend the event. Some of the groups have been tirelessly volunteering with Adopt a Highway since the early days of the program, which began in Arizona in 1988. Those honored include:
Sierra Vista Kiwanis (Safford District): 19 years of service.
Rotary Clubs of Sedona (Flagstaff District): 18 years of service.
Kingman Rotary Club (Kingman District): 17 years of service.
Boy Scouts of America Troop 407 (Phoenix Maintenance District): 16 years of service.
Group in Memory of Wilson A. Thomas (Globe District): 8 years of service.
Three ADOT employees are also being honored for their years of support to the Adopt a Highway program. Those individuals are LeRoy Brady, along with John Pratt & Mark Schalliol, who are retired.
"Adopt a Highway volunteers make a tremendous impact around our state,” said Stephanie Brown, Adopt a Highway program coordinator. “Litter is a huge contributing factor in storm water pollution & is also hazardous to wildlife. It’s an economic strain, since areas with litter often attract more litter. Every piece of litter picked up by our dedicated volunteers is that much less trash allowed to pollute our environment.”
Governor Janet Napolitano has proclaimed June 15th - 21st, as Adopt a Highway Week.
Arizona's Adopt a Highway program includes 2,185 groups with 10,925 volunteers adopting 2,777 of the nearly 6,000 available miles of Arizona highways. It is estimated that Adopt a Highway volunteers produced an overall labor benefit of more than $5 million for the state of Arizona last year.