CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff senior football player Marcus McKinney recently had a Facebook debate about the conditions of his hometown, and he decided to do something about them personally.
McKinney is organizing a community cleanup this Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at Cedar Bluff Park. He’s requesting volunteers bring their own yard work utensils, such as rakes, trash bags, paint, lawn mowers, weed eaters and push mowers.
“I just want to do something good for the community and maybe make someone’s day,” McKinney said. “I grew up in the apartments right down the road from there (the park). Me and my parents (Sylvia and Matt McKinney) know almost everyone who lives in the community and we treat each other like family.
“Some people aren’t able to keep up the area. They’re mostly elderly, single mothers, and hard-working people. I’m young and wanted to do something for the community before I left for college.”
McKinney’s former football coach Jonathan McWhorter said he’s proud of what Marcus is doing.
“It’s always good to hear our kids are taking it upon themselves to find an opportunity to help other people,” he said. “That’s one of the things we’ve talked about over the years, one of our core covenants that we’ve built our football program on, and that’s service and being able to go and help other people for no personal gain. It’s good to see and hear that somebody is taking the initiative to go do that without somebody else organizing it.”
McWhorter and his coaching staff used to take the Tiger football players out on similar community projects on a Saturday before their seasons began.
“Hopefully some of the things we’ve tried to teach the kids – not just tell them but teach them – is there are other people in the world other than us, and we need to find opportunities to help other people,” McWhorter said. “I’m glad Marcus is taking that initiative and others in the community too to do that. I’m real proud of him as a player and a person.”
Sylvia and Matt McKinney have helped their son organize this cleanup event.
Sylvia McKinney said they’ve heard from several volunteers within the community who plan to pitch in, including a few kids from nearby Gaylesville.
“Hopefully we can get everything cleaned and mow some yards,” Sylvia McKinney said. “We will see how everything goes Saturday.”
Sylvia McKinney said “proud is an understatement” when Marcus approached her about doing something for their community.
“This is a little different than helping a few kids at Christmas like we do every year. It’s a little bigger project,” she said. “He knows a lot of people in that area. Some he knows the struggles they have been through the past year, with losing family, some homes, and a single mom. He says he’s young and can help. It makes my heart very happy.
“He loves Cedar Bluff, and if he can help just one person, maybe that will make this town a better place. He always says to bless is better than being blessed, and I agree with him.”
If you would like to help the McKinneys with the Cedar Bluff cleanup project, you can call them at 256-630-4500 or 205-809-2505.