To the Editor:

This year it snowed on April 9, the day of the 20th annual Cleansweep at the Lowhill Township Municipal Building.

But even so, the event was successful because of enthusiastic community participation.

The Rural Preservation Association thanks all who helped to make the day run smoothly, including the many RPA members and other volunteers, Lowhill Township employees, kids from Lehigh County Juvenile Probation, and the businesses that supplied the collection containers.

We are grateful to Berger Sanitation, Systech Environmental, and Schneider and Sons for their generosity in assisting us with the event, the crew from Lyons who worked into the afternoon, RRS Recycling in Kutztown for accepting certain electronic items, and to Blue Mountain Equipment for collecting used oil, Heidel Hollow Farm for the use of their truck, to Bill Dietrich for the use of his tire changer, and to Big Brothers and Sisters and Snyder’s Second Chances for recycling reusable items.

We collected a tractor trailer full of all sizes of used tires, 4,800 lbs. of white goods, 5,580 lbs. of mixed metals, more than 150 gallons of used oils, a large box truck filled with 3-1/2 tons of electronic item, including household batteries, fluorescent lights and many TV’s, plus two roll-off containers of trash, bags of baling twine, vehicle batteries for recycling, as well as piles of clothing, household goods and furniture that will be re-used.

With proceeds after expenses were covered, the RPA was pleased to award Northwestern graduating senior Josephine Steidinger a $1,000 scholarship as she prepares to attend North Carolina State University this fall.

As usual, community members were wonderfully cheerful and generous in their support of this annual event as they waited in line to unload while snowflakes were gently falling.

Everything went smoothly, and because of the efforts of so many people, our Northwestern Lehigh area continues to excel in recycling and beautification.

Many thanks to everyone who showed up that day to be part of this worthwhile community effort!

Teena Bailey

Heidelberg Twp Township