Perdue associates volunteer in Project Clean Stream project

Nearly 900 Perdue Farms’ associates, their family members and friends across 11 states joined forces to help protect and enhance the environment in the communities in which they live and work during the seventh annual companywide environmental sustainability initiative called Project Clean Stream.
Perdue volunteers, organizing local cleanups across several Saturdays in April and May, removed a record 74,600 pounds of trash and debris from streams, ditches, roadways and parks at 52 sites in 11 states, including the Chesapeake Bay and coastal bays watersheds on the Delmarva Peninsula. Their bounty included such items as bicycles, tires, toys, mattresses, bottles, televisions, paper products, and much more. Clean-up sites were located in California, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
“Our associates’ participation says a lot about their willingness to give back and our commitment to environmental stewardship at Perdue Farms,” said Jeff Smith, director of environmental services at Perdue and Project Clean Stream coordinator. “They invest a great deal of time and energy into their work and are still eager to volunteer their time on a day off to participate in a project that benefits their community and helps protect the environment.”
In Monterey, Tennessee, 65 volunteers removed 18,595 pounds of trash from the local environment to lead all volunteer teams. “Project Clean Stream is important to our associates because they can physically see that they are making a difference in the local community. I like the fact that you can take even a small number of people and with a little teamwork and make a significant impact,” said Monterey associate and event organizer Patty Kennedy.
In Georgia, associates harvested more than 11,000 pounds of trash at site cleanups in Perry and Gainesville. In Maryland, nearly 9,000 pounds of debris was removed from the banks of Mitchell Pond in Salisbury, the site of the company’s first Project Clean Stream cleanup in 2008. In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, associates at Perdue’s Bridgewater operations collected 4,700 pounds of trash, while in eastern North Carolina associates removed more than 4,400 pounds of trash and debris in Lewiston, Kenly and Candor.
“Project Clean Stream is an important effort primarily due to the larger number of facilities and associates in the Perdue Farms’ family that participate,” said Katelyn MacCann, a Perdue Project Clean Stream coordinator based in Westover, Maryland. “Our hope is that the communities we clean up in during this effort will see the positive impact and want to join us in creating a better environment.”