Keep Lincoln County Beautiful reports nearly 1,600 bags collected and $26,500 in donations for 2025 efforts

Erica Lee, executive director of Keep Lincoln County Beautiful, presented the organization’s 2025 annual report to the commissioners, detailing beautification projects, volunteer cleanup totals and recycling accomplishments. Projects cited included a "rainbow bridge" on the Marsha Cloninger Rail Trail to honor pets, mulch and erosion-control work at Alex's Field and Rock Springs Elementary, and sidewalk beautification between West Lincoln Middle School and the West Lincoln Library.

Lee reported volunteer cleanup totals for 2025: roadside cleanups totaled 695 hours and 987 bags collected; curb and median cleanups totaled 296 hours and 608 bags; the Catawba River sweep on Oct. 4 involved 28 volunteers and produced multiple bags and miscellaneous debris. She said Keep Lincoln County Beautiful placed plastic-film recycling containers at county convenient sites and collected more than 1,023 pounds of plastic film in 2025; the program funded the purchase of a park bench.

The group reported $26,500 in donations in 2025, including $10,000 from Lincoln County, $12,500 from the Bosch Community Fund grant, $3,000 from Bloom Community Grant and $1,000 from the city of Lincolnton. Lee also acknowledged a prior undercount in the 2024 report—December 2024 numbers were inadvertently omitted—and presented corrected totals for 2024 litter pickups.

Lee thanked county commissioners for their continued support and listed active volunteers and board members by name. The board received the presentation with thanks.