WINNSBORO – Last year, the Fairfield Pickleball Club adopted a stretch of highway near the Fairfield Recreation Center, where they meet multiple nights a week to play pickleball.
The Club recently received notification that it has been selected as one of the winners of the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s 2023 Adopt-a-Highway Program.
The award noted that the group had the most participation and picked up a total of 840 pounds of trash on the Fairfield stretch of Highway 321 between Highway 34 and north to the Rec center.
Fairfield County Sheriff’s Deputy Lawrence Hodge, assigned to the Sheriff’s Community Policing Division, spearheaded an effort for the pickleball club to adopt a highway.
Hodge, an active member of the club, volunteered to be the coordinator for the project, and handled all communications with SCDOT and the club, making arrangements for litter pickup dates, obtaining necessary supplies, and ensuring highway safety during these litter pickup dates.
The club meets to play pickleball at the Boykin Recreation Center in Winnsboro on Sunday afternoons from 4-6 p.m. and Monday through Thursday evenings from 6-8 p.m., and at the Mitford Community Center Tuesday & Thursday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. & Fridays from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.