KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Julie Mura and her husband Alan moved to Kershaw County almost two years ago and quickly fell in love with the beauty of the area. There's was just one problem: trash.
“So far this year, we’ve cleaned up 7,500 pounds of trash,” Julie Mura said.
That's why they created Operation Assist.
“We started noticing the amount of litter pretty much everywhere you go, and we kept saying 'Man it's such a shame there's all litter everywhere,' so we thought one day we could keep complaining about it or we could do something about it,’ Mura said.
“It was just pretty unbelievable, every square inch was covered in some sort of trash," Mura said. "So, we made pretty quick work of cleaning that area up. I'd love to go back and do more work there.”
The non-profit focused on cleaning up trash is now almost one year old. Mura said the most shocking clean up was their most recent at the Wateree dam, where they assisted with the Wateree Trash Festival.
Mura said they want to empower more people to get involved in cleaning up the community as they aim to hit 10,000 lbs. of trash by the end of the year.
“Clean-ups here are the gift that keeps on giving," Mura said. "There is always somewhere new that needs to be cleaned up.”
The next clean-up is scheduled for November 18th. No location has been announced yet.