BELLE FOURCHE—Community pride was on full display Saturday morning, July 11, as a group of volunteers joined together for a litter walk focusing on the trash left behind along the Black Hills Roundup Parade route.
Belle Fourche Global Methodist Church Pastor Sheri Fadley came up with the idea for the litter walk and reached out to Nikki Hoyme and Clint Haffner. Together, they partnered with Monument Health United Way group to invite the public to join in the collaborative effort to beautify the community.
“Pastor Fadley is an avid walker and she likes to go on walks, and she sees a lot of garbage and oftentimes takes her own bag with her and picks up stuff as she goes on these walks, and then she thought we should do a litter walk, and then started talking with Nikki. They thought that after the Fourth (of July) would be good—and it worked out so well,” shared Cassandra Freed, volunteer.
Hot weather and a heat advisory created challenging conditions for the volunteers. It may have slowed them down a bit, but it didn’t stop their efforts. “So we started at 8 a.m. and I called it around 9:15 a.m. because of the heat—but we had a good turnout of people, so we were able to cover a big area too,” explained Clint Haffner, volunteer.
The group took some precautions and had a car available in case someone got overheated and needed a break. “We hit the parade route, we have tons and tons of garbage that gets thrown off the parade and gets stuck in the gutter and there’s still a lot of remaining garbage even after the residents pick up and the city street sweeper goes through,” said Haffner. “We filled a 300-gallon dumpster.”
The church provided all of the gloves, garbage bags and water for the trip out to collect litter and the volunteer turnout was good. “We had probably 15 to 20 people show up, so a greater turnout than we expected with the heat and this being the first time,” said Nikki Hoyme, volunteer.
What began as a volunteer group of just Nikki and Clint has grown over time as others in the community saw the work being done and joined the effort. Encouraging more people to care about the community and get involved is really the goal. “We always have fun—we have a wonderful group and I don’t think the people that are in our group realize how wonderful our group is. Everybody gets along, the cohesion and the teasing and the joking, and the camaraderie, and it’s the gratitude that you get from helping, you know,” shared Haffner. “It is about encouraging others to join.”
Hoyme added, “Individually you can’t make a huge difference, but together you can make a massive difference! And if you can inspire somebody else to get out and do something, that’s really what matters.”
When all of the walkers returned to the church following the trash pickup, the ladies of the church had cold lemonade and snacks waiting for the hard-working volunteers.
If anyone is interested in hanging out with good people while helping make a difference in the community, then you are invited to come to their next event. “For people that want to get involved in the community, but they don’t know how or they can’t necessarily do a lot, but they can do a little, so they join in and help out—it’s fun,” shared Hoyme.
On July 18, beginning at 8 a.m., the group of volunteers will be going over to Nisland to help the 4-H clubs prepare the fairgrounds for the Butte Lawrence County Fair. There is always garbage to pick up and work to be done, so if you want to help out, feel free to join.
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