About eighteen months ago, at a meeting in Kahler Hall during the final stages of the debate over the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center, I first learned about a group of young people who were just beginning a cross country quest to raise awareness about littering. Appropriately enough, they called their mission Pick Up America and one of the original members of the group was Kelly Klein, daughter of CoFoCoDo activist, Alan Klein. Alan, regular readers may recall, led the effort to stop the Town Center redevelopment legislation and then, having failed at that, attempted to unseat Councilperson Mary Kay Sigaty in last years council elections.
According to the Pick Up America website, Alan still serves as Chairman of their board though Kelly is no longer listed as a crew member.
Over 272 days on the road, they've walked over 2,000 miles, crossed nine states and picked up almost 150,000 pounds of trash.
Last night they were featured on NBC Nightly News.
