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Tidewater Striders Club cleans up Virginia Beach highway in preparation for Shamrock Marathon

Posted at 7:25 PM, Mar 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-11 19:25:26-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Every two months throughout the year, the Tidewater Striders Club comes out and picks up trash along the gateway to Virginia Beach. Every year, they make sure they clean a week before the big annual Shamrock Marathon.

“We use the race for next weekend to get more people to come out here and do it. We had twenty-nine people here today," says Rich Hildreth, Tidewater Striders Club.

It's a quiet tradition of small acts that makes a huge difference. Rich Hildreth says on a typical day of cleaning up the highway, everybody participating will pick up trash along three quarters of a mile.

“I provide bags, sticks and grabbers. We clean between First Landing State Park and Atlantic Avenue in both directions," says Hildreth.

On Sunday, there were 45 trash bags filled within two hours. The Tidewater Striders Club which is apart of Adopt -A- Highway says the clean-up process is something constructive they like to do for the area in which they live.

“It makes me feel good to help pick it up. It’s disturbing that so many people feel free to throw it away," says Hildreth.

Once all of the trash is collected, the group will make a report to the City of Virginia Beach and then Public Works will come and pick up all of the trash. The next clean-up day will be in May.