Huron, SD - October 9, 2020 - The South Dakota Central Chapter of Credit Unions have held an annual ditch cleanup for many years. As part of the Adopt-A-Highway project, each fall volunteers from Huron area credit unions gather to clean up garbage in a two-mile stretch of ditch along the highway south of the city of Huron.

This year, the COVID crisis presented some challenges, but that didn’t stop the group from accomplishing their task on Tuesday, September 15th.  Instead of gathering in one large group, the volunteers opted to work individually and in small groups of families and/or coworkers in order to limit exposure. The group of 17 volunteers collected approximately 9 bags of trash, making their community a much tidier place!

“The only thing in more abundance than the discarded rubbish this year were frogs!” joked Tiffanie Kouf, Marketing Director at M-O FCU and chapter president. “There were SO many frogs! Usually you’ll see a few, but this year there were a ton of them,” she added.

We’ll take that as a good omen – as frogs are a sign of a healthy eco-system, according to earthrangers.com.

*Photos show several members of the South Dakota Central Chapter donating their time for their Adopt-A-Highway project.

The SD Central Chapter of Credit Unions is made up of six credit unions, which include Dakotaland FCU, M-O FCU, HB Telco FCU, Huron Area Education FCU, Huron CNW FCU, all of Huron, and Oahe FCU of Pierre.  Also, the Pierre branch of Black Hills FCU is an associate chapter member.