(Rockford, IL) – Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott H. Christiansen, City of Rockford Mayor Lawrence J. Morrissey and Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful Executive Director Lori Gummow announced the kick-off for the 2^nd Annual Great American Clean-up in Winnebago County to be held Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon This is a collaborative effort between Winnebago County, the City of Rockford and Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful. 

Based on last year’s very successful clean-up local leaders have decided to enhance the Great American Cleanup efforts that Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful has coordinated for the past eight years.  As a nationally-organized anti-littering campaign, the Great American Cleanup has grown to become a catalyst of real change for community improvement and beautification, becoming the nation’s single largest community improvement program. 

“One of our goals is to help instill civic involvement and community pride by keeping our communities clean and as litter free as possible. A successful strategy for preventing petty crime and low level anti-social behavior is to fix small problems before they become larger. Cleaning up a sidewalk every day creates the tendency for litter not to accumulate; we appreciate all of the citizens who make keeping our county clean a priority,” stated Chairman Christiansen.

Added Mayor Larry Morrissey, “The greatest gains in achieving excellence in our community are found through collaborative programs such as The Great American Clean-up.  This is a beautification project that has found strength through citizen volunteers that change the look and feel of our neighborhoods through their hard work.   Thank you to each and every volunteer that took the time to make a difference: your dedication is greatly appreciated”.

The cleanup day is a county-wide effort that involves citizens from all of the villages, municipalities, townships, and service organizations in Winnebago County. 

Trinity Lutheran Church, 200 North First Street, Rockford will serve as the central location for volunteers to pick up supplies such as gloves, trash bags, and litter tongs.  Supplies will also be available at many other regional locations including: Harlem Township Town Hall, 819 Melbourne Ave., Machesney Park; Rockton Township, 1315 North Blackhawk, Rockton; Cherry Valley Town Hall, 4875 Blackhawk Road, Cherry Valley; New Milford Village Hall, 6771 11^th Street, Rockford; the Winnebago County Highway Department at 424 N. Springfield Ave., Rockford.   There's two new locations: Durand Fire Department, 115 Howard St., Durand and Pecatonica Township, 410 Reed St., Pecatonica.  Riverside Community Bank's Perryville Banking Center, 6855 East Riverside Blvd; the Harrison Banking Center, 2625 Stowmarket Ave; the State Street Banking Center, 4048 East State St; and the Route 173 Banking Center, 1515 West Lane Rd. The House of Refuge Church located at 1401 West State St. will also be a location to pick up supplies.

Volunteers are asked to pick up supplies between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. at the various locations listed.  Volunteers can pick up litter at the location of their choosing or locations will be provided.  A complimentary lunch will be served at 12:30 PM at Trinity Lutheran Church, 200 North First Street, Rockford to all volunteers.

“In Winnebago County last year, we coordinated hundreds of volunteers, who gave thousands of hours to cleanup 75 miles of county roads and city streets. An amazing 308 tons of litter was collected,” said Lori Gummow, Executive Director of Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful.

This clean-up effort is also being supported by regional leaders, Mayor Darryl Lindberg, City of Loves Park, Mayor Linda Vaughn, Village of Machesney Park, President Dale Adams, Village of Rockton, Mayor Randy Kirichkow, City of South Beloit, President Gary Haughton, Village of Durand, and President Bonnie Beard, Village of New Milford.

Organizations, groups or individuals wishing to participate in the 2008 Great American Cleanup should call Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful at 815-637-1343 to register by April 18^th.  You can also register online by going to http://www.knib.org/gacleanup.php