WABASH, IN— Leadership Development Wabash County participants organized a Wabash County cleanup day, “De-Trash The Bash”, in celebration of Earth Week. The cohort leading the charge consisted of community leaders from organizations such as Visit Wabash County, Ford Meter Box, Downtown Wabash, Inc., Waypoint Wabash, Wabash County YMCA and Pathfinder Services.
The eight-month Leadership Development Wabash County program, hosted by Grow Wabash County, challenges professionals to develop their leadership skills through various personality assessments, sessions with guest speakers, presentation opportunities and community service projects. The cohort was divided into four service groups which were prompted with the mission of organizing a service project that would positively impact the local community.
“We’ve discovered that the service projects our Leadership Development participants undertake during the program have a profound impact,” says Grow Wabash County President & CEO, Tenille Zartman. “Not only do these projects benefit the participants themselves, but they also create positive change within the Wabash County community. Witnessing our emerging leaders apply their newfound knowledge each month to make a tangible difference is truly empowering.”
With the vision of investing in the betterment of Wabash County, the group gathered on Tuesday, April 23 to clean Downtown Wabash and the YMCA Field of Dreams. The locations were determined based on the level of community-centered impact, where visitors, families and community members alike often enjoy spending time together.
“This project was an eye-opening experience for sure, we started out by looking for what locations needed to be cleaned up and quickly figured out we had more locations than we could do ourselves,” said Biz Bishop, Content Manager of Visit Wabash County. “Thankfully, our community stepped up and offered their help. This project wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the Wabash Street Department, Wabash County Solid Waste Management and Mayor Scott Long.”
During the event, the group was able to collect enough trash to fill 27 bags. The group challenges community members to grab a couple trash bags and see how much of a difference they can make with an hour of their time.
For more information about this event, contact Adrianna Town at adrianna@downtownwabash.org or Biz Bishop at biz@visitwabashcounty.com.