TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — The City of Tehachapi held its rescheduled Earth Day Makeup event on Tues, May 23.
Over 20 citizen volunteers came out to the litter removal event despite the change in date. The original Earth Day clean-up event had to be rescheduled due to weather and safety concerns.
According to the City of Tehachapi, over 460 pounds of trash was collected by volunteers and removed from Antelope Bike Path, Valley Boulevard, and Cherry Lane.
“Our community continues to show up, roll up their sleeves, and put sweat equity into Tehachapi. That’s one of the reasons this is a special place to call home,” said event coordinator Key Budge. “At this cleanup event, it was our realtors and real estate agents that came out in force and volunteered, we also had business owners step up and volunteer their services. This was the biggest collaboration of businesses, government agencies, and community volunteers to join for an Earth Day clean-up event in recent memory.”
The event also had support from businesses in Tehachapi. During a briefing at the beginning of the event, the manager of the Sonic Drive-In donated larger drinks to volunteers. Meanwhile, Tehachapi Mountain Hauling Service owner Tim Kirkpatrick let the volunteers use his business for trash storage. He also transported the trash at no cost and paid for waste disposal fees.
The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) also participated in the event, having a team clean up litter along Highway 202 in Old Town Tehachapi.
