The Ray-Pec Optimist club spends each year bringing joy into children’s lives with new activities and events. Their creed is to stay optimistic, even when others cannot (if you would like to see the entire creed, go here). They work to promote pride in their community, by sponsoring students, hosting events, and cleaning up the highway.

On J-Highway Sept. 27, three members of the Optimist Club and a student volunteer cleaned up the highway, keeping the environment healthy. Joe O’Neal was one of the Optimist Club members that helped with the cleanup.

“We clean up the highway four times a year, generally with six people from the Optimist Club,” said O’Neal, “We usually get about 10 to 12 bags of trash from cleaning up the highway.”

O’Neal also mentioned that this is a good community service opportunity for students wishing to participate in A+. Usually, the trash cleanup takes anywhere from one hour to an hour in a half.

Although the Optimist Club is obligated to clean up the highway, O’Neal thinks that people really appreciate their hard work.

“One of our contributions to the community is to adopt a stretch of the highway and clean it up quarterly. People have stopped and honked, waved, and no one throws trash while we are there, so I definitely think that the community appreciates it,” said O’Neal.

For more information on how to volunteer for highway cleanups, contact Joe O’Neal in south room 221.