AIM teams up to clean up
Emily Ibbs, left, and Alexis Geldrich, both of Polson, help the highway 93 cleanup.
JETTE HILL — Forty-five bags of trash, four bags of recyclables, countless wrappers and bottles later, the two-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 between mile markers 68 and 70 was clean.
St. Joseph Medical Center’s new All of Us in Motion club put together the highway clean-up last Saturday. AIM is an employee-based group with the focus of trying to get employees involved in the community.
Seventeen employees showed up with their spouses and children to pick up trash.
The oddest thing found was a beat-up dog cage.
“We also saw a dead deer, but that’s expected,” organizer Kim Slack said.
The participants donned bright-green vests donated from SJMC and walked along the side of the road. The vests will be reused at other events, like Hoopfest.
The day started with a breakfast in the hospital’s cafeteria at 7:30 a.m.
“They set the tone for the day,” Slack said of the chef’s breakfast. What was supposed to be a continental breakfast turned into a healthy spread of food fit for a king.
“Eggs, hashbrowns, sausage,” Slack said. “It was great. We expected something simple like yogurt and fruit.”
The AIM program was started a month ago and hopes to do a highway cleanup three times a year with more participation.
“We had awesome feedback,” Slack said. “That’s why it’s called All of Us in Motion, not just a few of us.”