A different kind of reunion: Classmates pitch in to help clean up Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Catching up with former high school classmates can sometimes be good for more than just a trip down memory lane.

A group of Prairie High School graduates from the early 1980s realized that last week. Prairie alum Linda Skaggs put out a request via social media for help cleaning up the area near the dam on the Cedar River along Old River Road. Those who answered the call happened to be other Cedar Rapids Prairie High School alumni.

The group has since met at New Shack Tavern, 2545 Old River Rd. SW, a couple of times before heading out to clean up the surrounding area. But they aren't stopping there.

Darcy Brown, who jumped in to volunteer right away and is now one of the group's organizers, said she'd been looking for a project to get involved with and this was a perfect fit.

'This fell into my lap,” she said. 'We did one clean up and I thought, ‘We can go a little further with this.' So we are now setting up a regular date for a cleanup every month, until at least there is snow on the ground.”

The group's next project, coming up on Sept. 10, will be a cleanup in the Lincolnway area of southwest Cedar Rapids near Kirkwood Community College.

The group now has a public Facebook page 'Trash Talk CR Clean Up” to help organize future efforts and spread the word.

'This Facebook page is a great place for other people who are doing events like these to share them and we are hoping this helps us all learn more about our community,” Brown said.

'This is so easy to do and anyone can do this,” she added of the cleanups. 'Even one bag can make a huge difference in helping to keep Cedar Rapids and the surrounding communities clean and beautiful for the people that live, work and play there.”

Brown said group members plan to start reaching out to neighborhood associations and local businesses to encourage them to do regular cleanup events.

'We'd love to highlight April and August as citywide clean up months,” she said. 'This is just about trying to get people on board with keeping our city beautiful.

'And we are grateful to Cedar Rapids city government for helping make this easy for us to do. They supply the bags and pick them up and you can't ask for much more than that.”