EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. -- Rain or shine, some men and women are doing their best to pick up the Poconos.
The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, along with the Pocono Mountain United Way, Street 2 Feet Outreach Center, and the Monroe County Waste Management Authority have partnered for a new program. It gives those less fortunate an opportunity to work.
"I think it's really good. I think it's needed because otherwise it just lays there. I would hate to see it at the end of the summer if we just let it lay there," said Walt Marcin, East Stroudsburg.
The program is called "Pocono Community Caring Company" or Pocono 3C. Clients are given a $50 Visa gift card for each day they work. The hotel tax funds the program.
"It's amazing. We are so thrilled with the fact that they can find employment, same day employment. No barriers, they don't have to have an ID. It's helping the community and changing the stigma that goes with homelessness," said Elizabeth Bogart, RHD Street 2 Feet.
Workers have been out for about two weeks picking up trash. The program has proven to be so successful that they actually had to turn some people away because they can only fit nine workers in the van.
Walt Marcin was out picking up trash. He's grateful for the program.
"$50 a day, I mean how can you beat it? You're out getting exercise and you're doing something," said Marcin.
Michael Tukeva is the president of the Pocono Mountains United Way. He found the program out west and decided to bring it to the Poconos.
"We quickly recognized that we needed the Street 2 Feet Group and the Waste Authority to make it a reality, and we think it's going to make a big impact in the community," said Michael Tukeva, Pocono Mountains United Way.
More than 200 bags of trash have already been collected all throughout Monroe County.