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April 25, 2010

Mother Earth Day needs food, clothes, shoes

By Jean Cole jean@athensnews-courier.com

— In the spirit of mom, spring cleaning and recycling, clean out that closet and bring your usable clothing, shoes and non-perishable food to the Mother Earth Day celebration May 8 in Athens.

Mom would want you to do it.

Athens’ first-ever Mother Earth Day celebration will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Big Spring Memorial Park.

“Part of recycling is reuse, ” says Lynne Hart, executive coordinator of Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful. “If you have good usable clothing you no longer want or need, why not allow someone else to make use of it?”

Mother Earth Day will feature free food, entertainment, information and education. Vendors will share information on earth-friendly products and services. Experts will hold mini-seminars and demonstrations on a variety of topics.



Used clothing



Clothing will be given to the Athens Downtown Rescue Mission, which includes a thrift store and food pantry. DHR, the Red Cross and United Way direct people who have suffered loss due to fire, domestic abuse and other hardships to the mission.

“Money raised from the five thrift stores owned by the mission are used to feed, house, clothe and educate the homeless in the name of Jesus,” Manager Sharon Gholston said.



Used shoes



Gently worn shoes will be donated to the Soles4Soles organization. Americans discarded more than 300 million pairs of shoes last year. Soles4Souls will clean and ship them to needy people around the world, who will treasure the gift for years to come.



Canned goods



Canned goods will be donated to Limestone County Churches Involved on Jefferson Street in Athens, Hart said. Volunteers from 22 churches in Limestone County run LCCI. Together, the churches give emergency assistance to individuals and families in need and ensure the services are not being abused. The organization has had trouble keeping shelves filled due to high unemployment.

“Those of us who have plenty should consider those who do not,” Hart said. “Many of us are but three paychecks away from being there ourselves.”



For more information, go online to the KALB Web site at www.KeepAthensLimestoneBeautiful.com, send e-mail to KeepALBeautiful@att.net or call (256) 233-8728.

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