Patton's Pickers seeks volunteers to help clean Monroeville roadsides

Stacie Murrer couldn’t believe it when she heard that the Monroeville Rotary Club regularly does trash pickup along Mosside Boulevard between Route 22 and MacBeth Drive.

“They deserve a lot more recognition for that,” she said.

To do her part, Murrer is organizing Patton’s Pickers, a group that will continue cleanup along Mosside down to its intersection with Route 130. The group’s name comes from Patton Township, the original name for the two towns that eventually became Monroeville and Pitcairn.

“This is a whole new group to try and help getting Monroeville to pick up litter twice a year,” she said. “I went to Danielle Cole at the Monroeville Parks and Recreation Department, and she took and ball and ran with it.”

The group will meet at 9 a.m. Oct. 21 at Compunetix, 2320 Mosside Boulevard, for the first of what Murrer hopes will be monthly cleanup efforts. The group will aim to meet on the third Thursday of the month.

“I hate litter,” said Murrer, who owns a dentist’s office in Monroeville. “I’ve had my business here for 30 years, and sometimes it looks like we live in a dump.”

Last year, Murrer took part in the annual Jack Sedlak Community Clean-Up and was inspired to get her own group off the ground. She has recruited four volunteers, but she’s hoping for more.

“For anyone who wants to come and help, the parks department is supplying the bags and hopefully the gloves,” she said. “We’ll meet at Compunetix, then break people into groups and send them on their way.”

Volunteers can email pattonspickers@gmail.com. In addition to volunteers, Murrer said she is hoping local businesses will sign a pledge to clean their property and one other property on a regular basis.

“Businesses who sign the pledge will be featured in the parks and recreation seasonal brochure,” she said.