Staff Report

Demopolis – Despite rainy weather, Foscue Park received a well-needed boost when 125 volunteers donated 4 hours of their time to cleaning up debris caused by Hurricane Ivan, developing a wildlife interpretive trail, litter clean up, seeding wildlife food plots, and removing nearly 1 ton of trash from the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers on National Public Lands Day.

The event was Oct. 9 and local volunteers at Foscue Park joined over 90,000 people at 600 sites nationwide.

Foscue Park’s NPLD project inspired volunteers from across the region.

Among those dedicating their Saturday were volunteers from: Alabama Power (Green Co. Steam Plant), Borden Chemical, several Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops, students from Demopolis City Schools, JROTC, University of West Alabama, Lion’s Club, and individual family volunteers who are outdoor enthusiasts.

“We also would like to take time and thank our sponsors for their help with the T-shirts that were given each volunteer.

Alabama Power (Green Co. Steam Plant) and Borden Chemical were our feature sponsors ,” said Ryan Basinger, the day’s coordinator.

Also helping with the shirts were:

Cemex, Gulf States Paper Corporation, Sears, Robertson Bank, Colony Office Products, Newton Tire, Smokin’ Jacks, Marengo Forest Products, Community Bank, Parr’s Chevron, Baugh Ford, Ward’s Appliance, Guy’s&Doll’s, The Gold Mine, Tombigbee Equipment LLC., Kris Mullin’s State Farm, Bill Mackey Real Estate, La Gran Fiesta, Demopolis Yacht Basin, New Era, and Bank Trust. A special thanks goes to Domino’s Pizza and Food World for providing food and beverages to volunteers.

This year approximately $5,000 was saved as a result of volunteers pitching in and contributing their time.

“The volunteer turn-out for this years event at Foscue Park was better than expected after having to reschedule due to Hurricane Ivan’s rampage through our area.

Rescheduling the event was a major undertaking and on the day of the event nature hit us with rain,” said David Stephens (Assistant Site Manager).

“We’re extremely grateful to all those who came out and braved the adverse weather conditions to participate.”