By ANN WERTMAN

Special to The Press

Anyone traveling the eight-mile stretch of Route 100, between Fogelsville and Route 309, must truly appreciate the rural beauty in the weeks following each litter pickup by an amazing team of volunteers.

To make their task easier, step into the mystery person photo (page A2) and volunteer two to three hours each spring and fall picking up debris.

Get some exercise and spent time outdoors while making the roadways look cleaner.

Consider there are two shoulders to the highway so the team is actually walking 16 miles to complete their community service each spring and fall.

This is almost the same distance one would drive on Route 222 between Kutztown and Allentown.

This past spring more than 50 garbage bags of litter, plus many oversize items were removed from those eight miles of highway.

While the crew cleans this portion of Route 100 twice each year, unfortunately, there is not any decrease in the litter collected due to ongoing new development, new businesses, and especially greatly increased traffic flow.

The number of bags collected in the fall cleaning may be slightly less as tall grass hides many items until the following spring.

When Seipstown Grange 1657 first signed onto this project in the late 1990s, there were 35 Grange members participating and the task was easily completed in one Saturday morning.

Today, with Grange membership being a fraction of what it was during the first year of participation, the 2022 team is about evenly split between Grange members and concerned community volunteers.

In recent years, what was once a task completed in about three hours now consumes multiple weekends and weekdays.

Volunteers complete their assigned section as their schedules allow over the course of two to three weeks giving greater flexibility and consideration in these busy times.

In the near future, members of the team would like to develop a program of team-building and public service to present to the managers of businesses, office buildings and new residential complexes in the southern portion of this stretch due to the highest density of litter appearing in this area.

Such cooperation will be essential to continued success.

Several of the team members offered comments on their experiences.

“This is our second year cleaning up our section on Route 100,” Rich and Cheryl Hausman said. “We are surprised by how much trash is along the shoulders of the road, but it is very satisfying to make a difference in keeping the highway looking great.”

Shannon Smedstad commented on volunteerism.

“I think it’s a great way to give back to our local community,’ Smedstad said. “Without volunteers, who would do this work?

“It’s a service that needs to be done, especially after all the winter snow melts.

“And, seeing the end result, a clean Route 100, is also rewarding.

And, more than 30-year participant Glenn Reeder discussed the difficulty and the rewards on doing the cleanup.

“It is a pain while doing it but when you are finished it gives you much satisfaction,” Reeder said.

As coordinator of this program since day one and, fortunately physically still able to participate, this reporter expressed much the same thoughts for a PennDOT blog on the 30th anniversary of signing the Adopt-A-Highway contract several years ago.

For more information and to volunteer, call Ann Wertman at 610-298-3254 or email annawertman@verizon.net.