Get Points for Each Piece of Garbage You Pull From the Mill Creek During the Trash-a-Thon Fundraiser

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Photo: Nick Swartsell

The Mill Creek

The Mill Creek Alliance and Mill Creek Yacht Club are hosting a fun fundraiser and inviting individuals and teams to suit up, grab a bag and clean up the creek during their Trash-a-Thon.

The 2020 Trash-a-Thon takes place along the entirety of the Mill Creek — the 28-mile strand of water that runs from West Chester through the Queen City to the Ohio River — and takes place through September and October. All the goodies you find during your clean-up will garner you points.

Each registration costs $25 per individual and includes an MCA T-shirt. Funds raised will help with restoration, education and recreation programs along the creek.

Here's how the Trash-a-Thon works:

1. Register Online ($25). Registration includes supplies and an MCA T-shirt. Choose a Tire Vulture Team to affiliate with.
2. Set a GOAL. Challenge yourself to up the amount you can raise.
3. Check in with friends and family to get donation pledges based on the trash and tires removed from the Mill Creek watershed (quantity or flat donation)
4. Pick up supplies as needed from MCA (garbage bags, gloves, buckets, etc) at 1662 Blue Rock St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45224.
5. Clean up the Mill Creek, either by canoe or land-based along the banks
6. Record your haul on the trash-tally form and submit data
7. Keep it going. Repeat steps 3-6 as many times as you can.

You can also compete to win "prizes" for the amount of trash, tires and money you raise. You get:

• 1 point for a small trash bag of trash
• 2 points for a large trash bag
• 2 points for a car tire
• 4 points for a large truck tire
• Plus special points for what MCA calls "trash trophies" — shopping carts, metal drums, fencing, traffic cones, garbage cans, toilet seats, pig troughs, radios, cell phones, kiddie pools, steering wheels, and other Mill Creek oddities — and "urban tumbleweeds" aka plastic shopping bags.

Here's a link to the trash tally form.

For more info, email [email protected] or call 513-563-8800.