Issue: Winter 2024

“Data and Numbers”

I hope that each of you have had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season and are looking forward to an exciting and productive 2024! 2023 brought another blessed year for Alabama PALS, and the staff and Board of Directors are looking forward to what we feel will be the best chapter in the history of your organization. Thank you for affording Alabama PALS the blessing and opportunity to serve you and your cities, counties, and communities.

In today’s world there is an abundance of importance placed on “data and numbers,” whether it is within an organization, business or our daily lives. It’s a fact that certainly has merit and verifies the work and successes that we all strive for in every area of our lives. “Data and numbers” are also important when we explore how we can make improvements to better accomplish the goals and standards that we set and to determine how we can adjust to make successful programs even more effective for the future. “Data and numbers” certainly have their place!

YOUR organization has grown to include:

• 889 current Statewide Adopted miles.
• Over 500 tons of litter picked up and reported each year during the “Don’t Drop It On Alabama” Spring Cleanup.
• 108,078 volunteers cleaning up 6,688 miles of coastline and picking up 1,757,902 pounds of trash during the history of the Alabama Coastal Cleanup.
• Thousands of students hearing the message of how they can become a part of a cleaner and more beautiful Alabama through the Alabama PALS Clean Campus Program.

These facts are amazing and have been accomplished due to your hard work and dedication to the goal of making Alabama truly “Alabama the Beautiful.”

However, as I look at the important and impressive “data and numbers,” I am more impressed at HOW Alabama PALS achieved those numbers. It is humbling and evident that these achievements are due to people, relationships, and leaders that have been nurtured and developed over the years through Alabama PALS.

I look back at a Board of Directors through the years that have remained devoted, supportive and 100% committed to leading PALS in a direction that has stayed true to its mission statement through both good and hard times. No organization has been more blessed to have had a more genuine group of board members. I also look at the relationships that have been formed with ADCNR, ADECA, ALDOT, and other agencies and associations that continue to encourage and support the PALS mission. We could not do what we do without their continuing genuine support.

I also have to consider our most important PALS Corporate Sponsors, as well as the Alabama Coastal Cleanup Sponsors. Again, I don’t know of another organization that has been more blessed to have a more loyal or supportive group of businesses that not only support the programs of PALS, but also are willing to become actively involved at every level. Thank each of you for your support, personal loyalty and friendship, and for giving PALS the opportunity to continue to serve all Alabama communities. To me, the relationships and the people that make the “numbers and data” possible are the MOST important factor of your organization!

In this article, I have included a memorial tribute written by her granddaughter to one of the longest and most dedicated PALS supporters in the history of Alabama PALS. Janice Castleberry gave everything that she had to the mission of a cleaner and more beautiful Alabama and to her “favorite organization,” Alabama PALS. She was one of the most dedicated individuals that I have ever known, and it is my pleasure to honor her service and friendship in this issue. Thank you, Janice, for your dedication and wonderful friendship for so many years. The world is a better place because of you!

In closing, we look forward to working with each of you in 2024. Let’s make the 2024 “Don’t Drop It On Alabama” Spring Cleanup in April the largest and most effective statewide cleanup ever. Let us know how we can best assist your cities, counties, groups and communities in preparing for the 2024 statewide cleanup. Thank you for your continued support in 2024.

— Spencer Ryan

Environmental Day

When I heard the theme of this issue’s magazine was “harvest,” it prompted me to think of how much the Clean Campus Program has in common with farming. When schools initially sign up for the program, I envision a fresh field ready to be planted. Next, we sow seeds of education to students throughout the school year with our campus visits, conducting campus cleanups and providing contest opportunities for students.

By the end of the school year, students that are exposed to the Clean Campus Program are just like full-grown wheat in a field. They have grown and matured all year long in their litter-prevention education and are officially better stewards of our beautiful state. The true harvest comes when these students spread the word to family members or simply pick up a piece of litter rather than walking right past it.

This summer, I had the opportunity to speak at the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Environmental Day. The students rotated through many stations to learn about everything from local animals to caring for our environment. Many seeds were sown that day with the students, and the harvest should come soon as they join in cleaning up their local Adopt-A-Mile and participate in our contests.

It is our sincere hope that your harvest this year is better than ever! We hope the same for the efforts of the Clean Campus Program as we reach thousands of students this school year to help keep Alabama litter-free!

If a school near you would like to learn more, have them visit www.alpals.org. I am happy to answer any questions at (334) 263-7737 or [email protected]. Alabama PALS programs are free to schools thanks to our state partnerships and corporate sponsors.

Educating Young Leaders on Litter Cleanup

Happy 2024! The fall was a very busy time for the Alabama PALS Clean Campus Program. I visited nearly 20 schools in person, Zoomed with a few more, and had meetings with various other groups around the state to help spread our anti-litter message. I spoke to thousands of students from August to December sharing why we need to all do a little bit each day to keep our beautiful state free from litter.

Two schools I visited this fall were Kinston School in Coffee County and Fairfax Elementary School in Chambers County:

• Kinston School: I met with 200 students in an assembly aimed at teaching them how to be lifelong stewards of our environment. I challenged the students to look out the windows on their way home and really see the litter on the side of the road. I asked them to imagine how all that litter got there and how it may or may not ever get picked up. I suggested they start a habit now of picking up at least one piece of litter every day, because we can all make a big difference when we all do our part!
• Fairfax Elementary School: I met with their student government group. I reminded this group that they are the leaders of the school, and when they are seen doing the “right thing” by picking up litter, the other students will notice. I challenged this group to spread the anti-litter message to their fellow students by not only being an example but also by telling a few friends what all we discussed.

This spring, we hope to visit at least 20 more schools and would love to come to your town! Also, our Poster and Recycled Art Contests will be due in April, and all contest information may be found in our newsletter online at www.alpals.org.

If a school near you would like to schedule a visit or has any other questions, I may be reached at (334) 263-7737 or [email protected]. Alabama PALS programs are free to schools thanks to our state partnerships and corporate sponsors.

Paulina Vives-Phillips moved to the Wakefield area of Marshall County four years ago and she has been making an impact on her community just about ever since. She lives on Murphy Hill Road and she noticed her road – which is something of a tourist area – was badly littered. Paulina set out to do something about it.

“I picked up the loop of Murphy Hill Road, Mt. Moriah Road and South Sauty Road,” she said. It took her a year of regular pick-ups multiple times a week to get it done, picking up small sections at a time. Her faithful beagle, “Lucky,” makes every step she makes on these litter cleaning journeys and it was actually Lucky who indirectly led to the litter pick-ups in the first place. “I took Lucky for a walk and saw the litter,” Paulina said. “That was the inspiration for it.”

Paulina initially thought she’d pick up the loop one time and things would change. She thought it would stay clean. She thought neighbors would see her picking up and start picking up themselves or at the very least stop littering. But that wasn’t what happened. It got littered again almost as soon as she was finished. But the subsequent rounds around the loop weren’t near as bad as the first one. The litter hadn’t had as much time to accumulate.

She expanded her pick-ups along South Sauty Road all the way into Jackson County, where it turns into County Highway 67. She also picked up along Highway 227 to the State Park. It’s a huge territory that she picks up litter on. So the clean-up job she started 4 years ago continues to this day. She picks up at least 2 or 3 days a week and picks up for 2 to 3 hours on each trip.

Lucky is a 15-inch beagle, not a large dog but certainly not a small dog either, and he can be bundle of energy. Paulina keeps him on a long leash when she’s picking up litter. For that reason, she doesn’t carry a large litter bag. She saves her small Walmart bags, carries them in a small backpack and will fill 17 or 18 of the small bags with trash on a typical pickup day. She doesn’t use a “litter grabber” stick either. She started out bare handing the trash she encountered. A neighbor who saw her couldn’t stand to see her doing that and gave her a pair of gloves. “I wore those gloves out and I am on my second pair now,” she said.

Litter clean-up makes a difference in how a neighborhood looks, but it’s no picnic on its best day. And it can be pretty bad on its worst days. Paulina has had at least a couple of scary incidents. “Another dog attacked Lucky one day, and put a hole in his side,” she said. There was no way Lucky could walk back home. It could’ve made the hole bigger. Paulina called her husband Ben and he came and picked them up. Lucky ended up at a veterinary urgent care to get stitched up. On another day, a broken bottle in Paulina’s bag brushed her leg and gashed it open. Again, she had to call her husband to come pick her up.

“He asked me once, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Paulina said. Her reply was that it’s good exercise for her, good exercise for Lucky and it helps the environment. She has never figured up the miles or the number of bags she has picked up, although she plans to start doing that. She is now part of PALS – People Against a Littered State – and they like to track the difference their cleaning efforts are making.

“I’m not able to catch up,” Paulina said. “My dream was to finish it. I am so naïve, honestly. I thought people were going to get motivated. If they don’t get motivated, I thought, they will at least feel sorry for us.” She finds all kinds of litter, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and fast food wrappers being the main offenders. “Mountain Dew bottles are my archenemy,” she said. “They’re green and you really have to look to see them in the grass.”

The most embarrassing material she found was “adult material” scattered on the roadside. “My 15-year-old nephew was visiting and that made it really embarrassing,” she said. The scariest item was one totally unexpected. She picked up a bag that was heavy and she had to look inside. There was a deer head in the bag. “It scared me to death,” she said.

Her imagination sometimes runs wild during her litter work. “I make up little stories about the litter I find,” she said. “Like the adult material. Was it an angry wife who found it in the vehicle and threw it out the window?” She regularly finds “99 Bananas” liqueur bottles on her route. “I don’t know who this guy is, but he likes it and you can track him by his bottles,” she said.

Has she found any money? “In four years, I have probably found $22 or $23,” she said. “When people stop by, they say, ‘Why are you doing this?’ I say ‘Because every time I come out here, I find a $20 bill.’ I’ve tried everything to get people to pick up.”

Cigarette butts are a bane to litter cleaners in town. Paulina said they’re bad in the country too. She is becoming more than just a litter cleaner now. She is becoming an anti-litter advocate. She addressed the Jackson County Commission, encouraging them to put out more roadside garbage cans, more signs and begin a campaign to encourage people to pick up in front of their own homes and businesses. She plans to speak to the Marshall County Commission about the same thing. “I lived in Japan for several years,” she said. “There, everyone keeps things clean in front of their own place. I don’t know why we can’t do that here.”

It is hard to imagine that the 2024 “Don’t Drop It On Alabama” Spring Cleanup is just a few months away. I trust that each of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s holiday and that 2024 will bring you and your families much happiness, fulfillment and joy.

Due to many requests to extend the Spring Cleanup through the month of April, PALS has designated the ENTIRE month of April for the 2024 Spring Cleanup. This will give cities, counties and volunteers the opportunity to designate the time needed to complete their respective cleanups.

We have begun the initial planning for the 2024 Spring Cleanup and wanted to update each of you about the dates for the shipping of materials for the cleanup. PALS is so very fortunate to have Coca-Cola United as our Title Sponsor again in 2024. Coca-Cola United and our other valued Sustaining Corporate Sponsors make the cleanup materials available to all Alabama counties, cities and communities a reality. These dedicated sponsors make all of the statewide PALS programs possible, so please be sure to take time to thank each of these sponsors for all that they continue to do to accomplish the goal of a clean and more beautiful Alabama.

Feel free to contact your respective County Commission Chairman or Engineer and thank them for their part in supporting the “Don’t Drop It On Alabama” Spring Cleanup each year. Also, take time to thank them for their willingness to pick up their respective county’s materials in Montgomery, as they did in 2023. The willingness of the Alabama Association of County Commissions to assist PALS in this distribution plays a huge role in PALS being able to meet the growing needs for each county. Each County Commission office will be contacted prior to the 2024 cleanup.

Also, on a very important note, PLEASE fill out the attached information sheet, complete with email address and return it to the PALS office at 340 North Hull Street, Montgomery AL 36104. We will be sending out e-newsletters with information for the 2024 Spring Cleanup, as well as using the PALS web page (alpals.org) and the PALS Facebook page (facebook.com/alabamapals) to send out information, as well as posting updated pictures and news relating to the 2024 statewide cleanup.

Important Facts for Counties Recycling Plastic Bottles

For 2024, PALS is offering cities, counties and volunteer groups the opportunity to recycle plastic (PET 1) soda bottles and aluminum soda cans. Recycling bags will be provided for those that will be participating. PALS is extremely excited about furthering the recycling effort into the 2024 Spring Cleanup. Please fill out the Information Form and indicate if you and your locality will be participating in the recycling effort during the 2024 cleanup.

Important Dates Relating to the 2024 Spring Cleanup

• January: PALS has Ordered all Spring Cleanup Materials
• January/February: All County/Group Contact Info to PALS Office
• March: Groups may order additional materials if needed and if AVAILABLE
• March 15: Materials and Supplies in Warehouse for Pick up and Shipping
• April 1: Groups may order additional materials if AVAILABLE
• April 2024: “Don’t Drop It On Alabama” Spring Cleanup Month
• May 30: All Report Forms Due in PALS Office

Materials Provided by PALS for 2024 Spring Cleanup

• Large Trash Bags with Corporate Sponsor Logos
• Recycling Bags for Counties and Groups Participating
• Spring Cleanup Ad Slicks
• Reporting Forms
• Window Decals
• New PALS Program Brochures
• Adopt A Mile brochures
• Clean Campus brochures

I would also like to encourage each of you and your groups to commit to adding new participants in the Adopt A Mile, Clean Campus and Adopt A Stream programs during this year’s cleanup. This is an excellent opportunity to involve additional numbers of groups and volunteers for the cleanup, as well as growing the active involvement in the mission of Alabama PALS. PALS is setting a goal of 50 new adopted miles during cleanup week. If you need additional brochures for any PALS program, please let us know and we will mail the brochures prior to the cleanup date. The program brochures can also be found at alpals.org.

Please let us know if we can assist you in any way in your planning for the 2024 Spring Cleanup. Thanks again for all that you and your groups do to further the goal of a clean and more beautiful Alabama. It is because of each of you that we can truly say “We Are Making A Difference.”

Spencer Ryan, Executive Vice President, Alabama PALS

My Memama was a Patriot. The American Flag was such a symbol to her and the freedoms of our country. She was a coordinator of various patriotic evens at Red Level High School, Buck Creek Church, and probably more of those that I don’t know about. As I look back at the numerous newspaper articles of all kinds, it makes me so proud of her because she loved her country so well. She always wanter to make sure my children knew exactly what the meanings were behind Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. She always inquired if the were being taught this in school and the fact it was not just another day off. She loved the “Red, White, and Blue.”

My Memama was a Servant. This is an understatement. It was a such a wonderful gift from God to have a woman whose primary spiritual gift was “Acts of Service” matched to such organizations and ideas that would help more people than herself. PALS, being “The Trash Lady”, Red Cross, being “The Blood Lady”, “the Commissioner’s Wife”, the right-hand lady to help her husband, Johnny, making sure that her people were loved and cared for beyond their roads and community. I have asked her numerous times how many cream cheese pound cakes she’s baked and delivered over her lifetime. She always just sort of had a quiet laugh because she’d lost count too. The servant and volunteer list could go on and on. Memama sometimes had a “way” of how she executed ideas—trust me, I know; however, I always knew and will forever remember that anything she wanted to accomplish was based on doing the right thing for a greater cause.

In closing, when Memama was lying there before she entered the pearly gates of Heaven, I told her that she was going to have to find another servant job. There would be no trash in Heaven and no need for blood drives! However, I know she is putting to use the old hymns she had memorized and sang throughout my childhood. And maybe, just maybe, she is singing in one of Heaven’s many choirs in the alto section, accompanied there to her left by my sweet mother, her daughter, Janna.

I love you Memama – you will always be in my heart and soul, and you have done your job here to teach me what it means to be more than a Memama.

Message from Jamie Mitchell, Clean Campus State Coordinator

What a wonderful year 2023 has been for the Clean Campus Program! We have continued spreading the anti-litter message in nearly every county of the state through in-person visits or the Clean Campus learning video. We had more counties than ever participate in our Poster and Recycled Art Contests, and we had winners all the way from Madison to Baldwin Counties! Thousands of students heard our presentation and were given either pencils made from recycled paper, stickers to use on reusable water bottles, or cell phone stick-on wallets. Many new schools conducted campus cleanups with supplies provided by Alabama PALS, as well!

As you make your plans for the spring semester and as Earth Day approaches, we hope that you will consider adding campus cleanups or campus beautification projects into your routine. If you have not yet had an in-person visit from me, I’d love to schedule a time to come speak with your students.

Annual Poster Contest

The theme for this year’s poster contest is “From the Hills to the Shore, No More Litter in 2024!”

• Guidelines: Please conduct your own contest at the school level first, then send in only the top three posters for statewide judging.
• Judging: Please note the judging guidelines to assist students during their planning. Ensure all winners include ALL requested contact information on their posters.
• Deadline: April 19, 2024.

Recycled Art Contest

There is no set theme for the Recycled Art Contest, so get CREATIVE! * Format: We will accept both 2-D and 3-D works.

• Materials: Projects should be made entirely from recyclable materials (or what would otherwise be considered trash) other than a small amount of fastening materials.
• Submission: Please only send in the top three winners from your school. You may deliver the pieces or submit them digitally if they are too cumbersome to transport. If a digital entry is chosen as a winner, the piece must be delivered to the PALS office as soon as possible after notification.
• Deadline: April 19, 2024.

Recognition and Enrollment

The PALS office will notify each winner, school, and PALS County Contact by May 10th. Winners will be recognized and presented with their respective awards at the Annual Governor’s Awards Luncheon in November 2024.

In closing, I would like to thank each school that is committed to keeping their campus and community clean. Thank you to those that are a part of the Clean Campus Program and to the students learning to be better stewards of our environment. We are all in this together!

If your school is not currently enrolled, please visit www.alpals.org to sign up. The program is FREE to all Alabama schools thanks to the generosity of Coca-Cola, ALFA, and the Alabama Farmer’s Cooperative. Please call or email me with any questions at (334) 263-7737 or [email protected].

— Jamie

By Jeff Helms — Chairman, Alabama PALS

Our culture is fueled by awards and recognition. The Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys symbolize the extravagance of entertainment. Sports championships and MVPs can make idols of mortal men and women. Even long-revered honors for science, literature and culinary arts have been tarnished by controversy. While some still pursue excellence for the good of society, it seems awards are increasingly marred by pride and politics.

That’s what makes the Alabama PALS Governor’s Awards different. The volunteers, businesses, local officials, and students we honored Nov. 8 don’t fight litter for money or fame. They serve Alabama and their communities because it’s the right thing to do. From sanitation workers and law enforcement officers to the heads of colleges and corporations, we share a common mission and vision: “To enhance our environmental and economic impact through a litter-free, cleaner and more beautiful environment.”

One of the highlights of my year is honoring the men, women, and students who make Alabama PALS great. The Governor’s Awards give us a chance to spotlight people who are rarely recognized:

• Civic clubs that scour their adopted miles for trash on Saturday mornings when their neighbors are still asleep.
• Youth who ignore snide remarks and mocking looks as they pick up litter on school campuses.
• Business owners who prioritize community service over profits by providing time for employees to participate in cleanups.
• Sheriffs and judges who understand littered neighborhoods invite further neglect.
• Media partners who promote and showcase Alabama PALS programs.

These recipients, and hundreds of other volunteers, are the heart and soul of Alabama PALS. Each year, their work provides millions of dollars in value to the State of Alabama. This quiet contribution deserves to be heralded. While celebrities and superstars often expect accolades, Alabama PALS volunteers would continue their faithful work even if there were no awards or praise.

That’s what makes the Governor’s Awards so special. Each recipient is an unsung hero, and it’s our honor to celebrate their humble service.

— Jeff