More than a hundred volunteers on Saturday showed once again that all it takes is a few hours of working together to make a significant impact on one’s community.

Organizers estimate between 100 and 120 people of all ages and from different parts of Limestone County attended the Buzzard Roost Road cleanup. All told, they were able to clear nearly 30 tons from the roadsides.

“It was unreal,” said Louis Mitchell, who lives near the road and joined the cleanup effort. “It still hasn’t been cleaned up, the whole thing. It’ll probably take another weekend to do that.”

Mitchell said he and his wife, Erma, have been longtime supporters of Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful, which helped orchestrate the event, but this was the first time they had participated in a cleanup. Saturday was also Mitchell’s 81st birthday, making the day even more extraordinary.

“It’s highly unusual, isn’t it?” Erma Mitchell said. “But we knew about the cleanup and … we just decided we would like to do that.”

KALB Executive Director Leigh Patterson said volunteers cleared 59,800 pounds of old tires, broken bottles, furniture and other discarded items from Buzzard Roost Road. It made for the largest cleanup project Patterson has experienced, she said.

“That place was in such bad shape, but look at what all these people pulling together did,” she said. “We wouldn’t get anything done without these people.”

Leigh Patterson and Limestone County District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend each said they had expected around 50 to show up. The road has been known as an illegal dumping site for decades, so community support was desperately needed to get it back in shape, but to see more than double their expectation was quite the surprise.

“That was very humbling, to have that many show up for a community cleanup on a road like that,” Townsend said. “… We actually got way more done than we thought we would.”

Louis Mitchell said it was unbelievable how much had been discarded along the road. In the three hours that he and his wife spent there, they spotted refrigerators, tires, toilets and an overabundance of common trash.

“It’s a pretty place, but they sure did make a mess by throwing stuff down there,” he said.

“We were glad we could help in a small way,” Erma Mitchell said. “It’s just going to take a lot of work to get that placed cleaned up. I know there are other areas in the county that have the same problem, and it’s just a shame.”

She and Townsend each noted that volunteers ran in age from adult to young child, with some as young as 5 or 6 years old.

“There were people there with their children, little young kids, just picking up stuff and putting it in buckets,” Erma Mitchell said. “The things is, if you just take the time just to do something to help your community, I think that’s what it’s all about.”

“FFA, home ec students, band students, football players, baseball players, and then we just had kids in general, just from the school that wanted to be involved,” Townsend said.

One month ago, Buzzard Roost Road was in such disrepair that many vehicles couldn’t travel it. Townsend said over the last couple of weeks, road crews have grated much of the road and used millings from other projects to make it drivable for most vehicles, including patrol vehicles from the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office. He hopes this will deter future dumping in the area.

Plans are already in place for road crews to continue improving the road and for volunteers to return to Buzzard Roost Road on March 6 as part of the countywide Trash Attack organized by KALB. As with other cleanup events, KALB will provide trash bags, litter grabbers and other items to assist with cleanup throughout the county. Contact 256-233-8000 for more information.