Clean Bash in Cookeville Saturday

Community organizations will gather together at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning to help cleanup Cookeville.

The Clean Bash is organized by Noon Rotary Club Vice President Mike Glass. He said volunteers will have different routes to cover most of the Cookeville’s downtown.

“Basically, I’ve got five routes of down around the Courthouse to City Hall to down around the train Depot,” Glass said. “I’ve been doing this for several months. You’ll be surprised how much debris and weird things I pick up.”

Glass said in addition to the Noon Rotary Club, the Sunset Rotary, the American Legion Post 135, and the Cookeville Clean Commission will take part in the Clean Bash. He said other organizations and individuals are welcome.

Glass said the idea for the event came after he began picking up debris from downtown after the March tornado.

“I worked downtown at the Veterans Service office,” Glass said. “I noticed there was a lot of debris, so I started picking up during that time period. I decided to start a Facebook page, Pick Up Putnam, where I encourage people to pick up and post pictures. My theory is that if one out of every hundred people in Putnam County picks up one piece of paper a day, that’s 8,000 pieces of paper.”

Volunteers will meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Spring Street and Walnut Avenue across from First Baptist Church.

Glass said as much as anything, he wants to bring awareness to ways people can keep the community clean.

“The big thing would be if I could encourage people to bring awareness of how much trash there is,” Glass said. “I mean, I didn’t realize how many ciggerate butts there was until I started picking them up. Now, when I see somebody thinking about throwing one I have a tendency to say something. I’m hoping bringing a little light to that will also bring a little bit of awareness.”

Glass said those wanting to volunteer can help by bringing buckets, anything to aid with picking up trash, and gloves. He said people will be socially distanced to ensure everyone’s health at the event.

More information about the Clean Bash can be found on the Pick Up Putnam Facebook page.