MILTON — Capt. Walter H. Reese, USN (Ret.), received Keep Florida Beautiful’s waterways cleanup award earlier this month at the annual state conference held in Sarasota.
Reese, a longtime member of the Santa Rosa Clean Community System Inc., has coordinated cleanups for 32 years.
In 2015, 363 volunteers removed an estimated 16.5 truckloads of trash from waterways in the 31st rivers cleanup.
“When I sent the request for the award, KFB president Mary Jean Yon called and told me ‘This was an easy choice for the award,’” said Kevin M. Smith, Santa Rosa Clean Community System Inc.’s executive director. “I was honored to be the person to escort Capt. Reese to Sarasota to receive this award.
“There are not many people in this country that serve 30 years in the U.S. military and then volunteer for 30-plus more years after that to help their community.”
Even after all the effort Reese has put forth, he still says, “We haven’t done a very good job. If we were doing a better job, we would not have so much trash to pick up year after year.”
Reese adamantly teaches the “Leave No Trace” effort for those enjoying the outdoors.
“So the next time you or someone you know is going to enjoy a day on the water, please, bring back one more piece of trash than you produce; do it for Capt. Reese,” Smith said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Keep Florida Beautiful recognizes local man’s cleanup efforts