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Carter County Drug Prevention’s Youth Coalition held a litter pickup in downtown Elizabethton on Wednesday afternoon. 
“They spent about an hour picking up litter,” said Dolly Reaves, CCDPC Project Coordinator. “This included everything from plastic bottles to cigarette butts.”
Reaves said the youth gathered around six bags full.
“They stayed kind of busy,” she said. 
According to Reaves, the Youth Coaliton has a large litter pickup project team who arranges pickups like this to help make an impact in the community. 
During the pickup, each child wore gloves and a mask.
She also wanted to thank Ed Jordan of Keep Carter County Beautiful for his influence on the youth. 
“He educated our youth on the dangers of litter in the community and helped fuel their passion for litter pickup projects,” she said. “After last year when he did this, the youth really took on a passion for litter clean-up, and ever since have been doing these litter projects very frequently.”
Reaves said projects like this are especially important for youth to take on. 
“This helps foster an amount of respect for the community and the environment,” she said. “When you teach kids to appreciate our clean community early on in their childhood, they can create a clean impact on future generations. This also helps foster a sense of responsibility and ownership.”
In addition to litter pickup, Reaves said the Youth Coalition has four other team-based projects they are currently working on. This includes: an antibullying art contest, a supporting arts in times of COVID-19 team, a rapid response team that puts together their own projects, a lead outside the box project. 
Reaves said there are many benefits to being involved in the Youth Coalition. 
“Our Youth Coalition is designed to foster a sense of leadership in our youth because they’re the ones leading the way, they’re the ones who are going to make a difference in their community,” she said.
In addition to Ed Jordan, Reaves also wanted to extend a thank you to Keep America Beautiful for helping fund the litter pickup and the nicotine free business program. 
Any business interested in being part of the nicotine free program, which is part of their Truth Initiative, or need ash trays or no smoking signs, they are urged to contact the coalition. 
For more information on the Youth Coalition, or general inquiries regarding CCDPC, check out their Facebook page or go to www.cartercountydrugprevention.org.