KSB Litter Lifters

What is a Litter Lifter? Litter Lifters are those citizens who volunteer to remove litter from our roadsides. Upon reflection, it may seem a small matter compared to personal issues or the national and global picture. Or it might just go unnoticed. However, the absence of litter on our roads is meaningful. It shows we care and take pride in this place. We believe visitors are more likely to return to a clean environment. Keep Sedona Beautiful currently manages over 125 volunteer Litter Lifters, covering almost 50 miles of roadway. A significant number have served the community for many years and in a few cases, over 20 years. Because we favor less sign clutter on our roadways, you may not know that KSB Litter Lifters cover the entire length of SR 179, including, as you know, some very challenging segments. Only a single sign at each end identifies Keep Sedona Beautiful.  Our dedicated KSB Litter Lifters need everyone's help. In fact, we currently need a few good folks to help on a regular or temporary basis. We provide all the tools; you get all the good feelings from a worthy contribution to our community. By the way, when you see a Litter Lifter, give a honk and wave to those tenacious folks wearing the bright orange vests, true heroes among us. Call Jan at (928) 282-4938 for more information on how you can get involved.

Keep Sedona Beautiful’s Litter Lifters Win Governor’s Pride Award

Top environmental honors in the state were recently awarded to Sedona’s own Keep Sedona Beautiful Litter Lifters, as they received the prestigious 2005 Governor’s Pride Award. Barbara Zeschke, who has headed the Litter Lifters for years, attended the Phoenix ceremonies to receive the award.

The award was created in 1990 through the vision of Arizona Clean and Beautiful and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). Designed to recognize those who have demonstrated a true commitment to Arizona’s quality of life through the development of innovative, sustainable programs, it is the only statewide environmental award event.

As part of ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program, the corps of approximately 120 Litter Lifter volunteers was honored for their extraordinary vigilance in removing trash from more than 50 miles of roads in the Sedona area. In addition, Keep Sedona Beautiful fosters educational programs and a children’s poster contest through the schools. Most any day, bold signs along the roadsides announce “Keep Sedona Beautiful Litter Lifters Ahead”.

Barbara Zeschke

Recovering splendidly from recent knee surgery, Barbara Zeschke gazed out the window of her rehab room at Kachina Point one afternoon recently, patted her swollen new knee and said to a visitor, "So many people who knew the earlier days are gone."  A zesty 70, Zeschke is nowhere near gone and she has the memory of a timeless diary.

Rolling into Sedona from Chicago 20 years ago, she'd been a seasoned volunteer in the public interest because of a project with a girl friend. Together, they'd started the first recycling center on the south side of Chicago in conjunction with the school where her husband taught.

In Sedona, she hoped for some relaxation and maybe endless hours plowing through a pile of novels. Poof went that dream; before long, she became involved in the annual cleanup between Sedona and Cottonwood. Back then it was a quiet two-lane road, not the helter-skelter speedway it has become. During the day she was approached by the late Bud Flynn and they got to talking, rather he got to talking. Keep Sedona Beautiful was losing their office manager and he asked her to take that job. She said as politely as she could, No--for two reasons, no. "First, I won't and don't do secretarial work. Secondly, there is no way I'll get up for 8 AM meetings."

	KSB Litter Lifter Awards   1994 Sedona Sunrise Kiwanis 1995 ADOT- Flagstaff District 1995 KSB Special Recognition 1996 Norman McGee Award 1997 State of Az's Governor's Pride Award 1999 Soroptimist International Award-Woman of Distinction 1999 Red Rock News--- Citizen of the year 2002 ADOT multi-state award 2005 Governor's Pride Award

Shortly thereafter, the woman who'd been supervising Litter Lifters had to leave for California to be with a sick friend. Would Barbara be interested? After some waffling and bobbing and weaving, she agreed.  The next thing Barbara knew, she was handed a 3 by 5 inch card box with maybe 35 names in it. That was it. "So that's how I started," she recalled the other day.  On her watch, she enlarged the route. Along the way she created the profile of the typical Litter Lifter: someone with great love for Sedona's beauty, relatively physically fit, and extremely dedicated and responsible. Each Litter Lifter must sign an ADOT waiver if they work on Highway 89A or SR 179; once on the KSB roster, they are covered by KSB insurance.

A senior member of the Arizona Clean and Green Coalition estimated the value of KSB's Litter Lifters (the amount saved for the taxpayer in the Greater Sedona area) at approximately $400,000 a year. And that was back in 1997. Just imagine what it would add up to today. I'd take her word for it.  "At least twice that today, wouldn't you say?" Barbara speculated.

Her favorite story? That's easy. A brand new Litter Lifter called Barbara excitedly on his first clean-up day to report that he'd found $7.
 
Before the surgery, she consolidated her records, contacted the 100-130 or so people on the roster so they wouldn't be alarmed, and gave that roster to Bill Pumphrey, who's been a Litter Lifter since he came to town. "We are in a transitional period. He is a good one, didn't want to hand it over to just anybody, you know."

> Litter Prevention

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Keep Sedona Beautiful promotes conservation of the greater Sedona area, and, by all practical means, seeks to preserve the unique natural environment and to enhance the quality of life for future generations. Make a donation to Keep Sedona Beautiful: