DECORAH, IOWA ~ Sometimes making the world a little better doesn’t require a grand plan, a big donation, or even a whole lot of equipment.
Sometimes it begins with a garbage bag, a pair of gloves, and somebody willing to lend a helping hand!
That’s the spirit behind the Decorah Rotary Club’s twice-yearly roadside cleanup tradition, with its latest fall effort scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2026.
Twice each year, Decorah Rotary volunteers turn their attention to their sponsored sections of Highway 9, helping keep the roadsides clean and preserving a little more of the natural beauty that makes Northeast Iowa such a wonderful place to call home.
The club’s spring cleanup took place April 11, when volunteers gathered to collect roadside litter along their designated stretch of highway.
For the October 17 fall cleanup, volunteers were instructed to meet at Putnam Law Office at 8 a.m. to pick up garbage bags and safety vests before heading to their assigned sections.
It’s not necessarily glamorous work.
There are no fancy ribbons for picking up discarded bottles, wrappers, and other litter. And most people driving down a freshly cleaned road may never know who helped make it that way.
But that’s part of what makes efforts like this so meaningful.
Some of the nicest things people do for their communities are things they never expect anyone to notice.
More Than Picking Up Litter
There’s something special about people who care enough about their hometown to give up a little of their own time to make it better for everyone else.
Northeast Iowa is blessed with winding country roads, rolling farmland, wooded hillsides, and autumn landscapes that can stop you in your tracks.
But keeping those surroundings beautiful takes more than simply admiring them.
It takes people willing to care for them.
Decorah Rotary’s roadside cleanup tradition is one example of how community service doesn’t always have to be complicated to be meaningful.
A few hours of volunteer work can make a visible difference, while giving neighbors an opportunity to work side by side for something they all share.
And perhaps that’s one of the nicest things about small-town living.
People don’t always wait for somebody else to do what needs doing.
Sometimes they simply show up.
A Little Reminder for All of Us
We don’t have to belong to an organization or organize a major project to make a difference.
Picking up a piece of litter, caring for a public space, lending a neighbor a hand, or volunteering an hour of our time can all help make our communities places we’re proud to call home.
Because hometown pride isn’t only about loving where we live.
It’s also about taking care of it.
So here’s a great big hat’s off to the Decorah Rotary Club and the volunteers who have supported this twice~yearly tradition of caring for their community.
Their continued commitment is a reminder that the little things we do for one another ~ and for the places we share ~ really do matter.
Sometimes the biggest difference begins with the smallest effort.
And sometimes all it takes to make a little corner of the world brighter is somebody willing to roll up their sleeves.
Now that’s a pretty good way to keep the good goin’ ’round town! ❤️
For more information about the Decorah Rotary Club and its community service activities, visit decorahrotary.org.
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Keep Goin’ ‘Round Town
There’s always another story waiting just around the corner.