A groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday afternoon marked the beginning of a new effort to assist and serve veterans in our area. The 2-X-4's for Hope organization will be building up to four tiny homes for veterans at the corner of College Street and Sixth Street in Lincoln.

On Saturday afternoon a large group gathered to mark the occasion, witnessing the official groundbreaking with turning of the soil by (left to right) Logan County Veteran's Assistance Commission Dan Benedict, Central Illinois Veteran's Commission Marsha Fernandes, Lincoln Logan County Salvation Army Rachel Oney; Haji Patel, who donated the property for the project; United States Congressman Darin LaHood, Lincoln Treasurer Chuck Conzo, Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch, Joe Schaler with the Central Illinois Veteran's Commission, and Mark and Chris Lawrence with 2-X-4-'s for Hope.

Photo by Nila Smith         (Click on image to enlarge)

After only about 90 minutes on the city's west side, a pick-up truck filled to the brim with trash bags full of garbage arrived to unload into the Area Disposal dumpster downtown on Saturday. The truck was just one of several loads that would go into the dumpster on the townwide clean-up day in Lincoln. All the trash collected in this particular load came from the area of Woodlawn Road between Lincoln Parkway and the I-55 overpass.

In all, 85 volunteers dedicated two hours of the morning to clean up the town. The volunteers were divided into four groups and went out to the corners of the city to clean up the right of ways.

Turner reported afterward, in the two hours 202 bags of trash were collected.

LDN will have more on the citywide clean-up day in the Tuesday edition.

Photo by Nila Smith        (Click on image to enlarge)