A group of DEOMI volunteers participated,
in the Adopt-A-Highway program recently,
when they spent their morning picking up litter and bebris,
alongside a roadway here in Brevard County.
In this case, Avocado Avenue in Melbourne.
It is a one mile stretch of road that starts at one end,
and dead ends at the other end.
It is a residential area...
and it’s a really good road for us to adopt.
DEOMI volunteers brought not only themselves,
but members of their families,
on what was also National Military Brats Day;
an annual event that honors the children of military personnel.
It is important and incumbent upon us to lead by example
and not just lead by example but to show the next generation
of our family members here how to take care of the community
and give back your free personal time because it matters.
The Adopt-A-Highway program began in the 1980s
when a man named James Evans, who worked for the Texas Department of Transportation,
saw debris flying out of the back of a pickup truck.
Litter cleanup in his city was expensive,
so he sought the help of local groups,
to help cleanup sections of the highway,
and it just grew from there.
Not only is it an eyesore,
but litter can also hurt wildlife, deter tourism,
and overtime, begin to erode the value of a surrounding area.
On this day, DEOMI did its part to help at least one road,
look a little nicer.
We collected pallets, tires and...
many, many bags of trash so...
I’m very proud of their efforts.
I would estimate somewhere in the ball park of 200 + pounds.
Currently the plans are for DEOMI to host,
an Adopt-A-Highway cleanup on this same avenue,
on a regular basis.
We’re going to keep continuing to make,
Brevard County a beautiful place.
Reporting for DEOMI Minute from Avocado Avenue,
I’m Rich Feagler.