By Kathleen A. McGinty, Secretary, Department of Environmental Protection, and David McCorkle, President and CEO, PA Food Merchants Association and PA Convenience Store Council, Co-Chairs , Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Alliance

Thousands of volunteers help make Pennsylvania a cleaner, greener place each year by participating in the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup. We need your help again this year.

The Great Pennsylvania Cleanup is an ambitious statewide effort to remove litter and trash from the state's roadways, parks, neighborhoods and open spaces. Throughout April, cleanup events will take place in cities and towns across Pennsylvania. Many of these events will occur on Saturday, giving citizens the opportunity to improve the quality of life in their community and to celebrate Earth Day.

We believe the best way to celebrate Earth Day is to roll up our sleeves and volunteer to keep our state beautiful, and we hope you will grab a trash bag and join us.

The Great Pennsylvania Cleanup has been a resounding success over the past four years because of dedicated community leaders and organizations that have taken the initiative to organize thousands of cleanup events across the state.

Volunteers make the difference. During the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup's four-year history, more than 500,000 Pennsylvanians have collected 24.6 million pounds of trash. Last year alone, nearly 140,000 volunteers from every county in Pennsylvania picked up 7.4 million pounds of trash from an unprecedented 4,100 communities between March and May. In addition, volunteers planted 13,000 trees, bulbs and plants to make Pennsylvania a better place to live, work and play.

These dedicated volunteers have transformed communities by removing litter and garbage from roadways, neighborhood parks and vacant lots.

When you take part in the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup, the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful alliance -- which is comprised of state and local governments, nonprofits and business organizations -- will give you free work gloves, safety vests and trash bags.

Organizing a cleanup is easy! If you're part of a service organization, scout troop or you just want to get your friends together to make your neighborhood a little cleaner, everything you need to get started can be found at www.GreatPaCleanup.org .

If you aren't able to organize an event this year, the Web site can show you when a cleanup is taking place in your community.

With your help, this year's cleanup will be even bigger and better than ever. So grab some friends and get going -- "Let's Pick It Up, PA!"

4/25/2008