Many NIU organizations have joined together to help keep the campus clean as part of an Adopt-an-Area Project.

The project, sponsored by Lambda Sigma and the Student Association, is going well, said Bryan Ryndak, Lambda Sigma service committee chairman.

The groups meet on Saturdays and clean designated areas on campus, he said. Lambda Sigma is a national sophomore honor society.

“On the 10th, we had about 10 or so organizations show up. There were people all over the place” picking up garbage and carrying trash bags, Ryndak said. On the 17th, the other organizations that did not participate the week before came to work, he said.

The organizations help clean up on alternate Saturdays. “We try to give (the organizations) different days” so as not to conflict with their schedules, said Curt Stein, SA Campus Welfare Adviser.

Clean-up areas include places that need it most, such as the lagoons, administration offices and recreation center. Ryndak said the areas around the Music Building and the football field need to be cleaned, but the project needs to get more organizations involved for such large areas.

The idea for the project was started last spring by Beth Cole, a Lambda Sigma member. Cole proposed that various organizations keep different campus areas clean, said Lambda Sigma President Mike Butterworth.

The SA also was working on a similar project at the same time. Because Curt Stein was an SA and Lambda Sigma member the organizations had better interpersonal resources and connections, Butterworth said.

“From that point on we just ran with it,” Ryndak said.

The SA did the planning and publicity as well as talking to physical plant workers and sending letters to every SA-recognized organization on campus, Stein said.

Lambda Sigma set up areas for groups to clean, he said. “Rather than the SA do things from start to finish, another organization came forward,” Stein said.

Lambda Sigma members said they aren’t doing this merely for publicity, but to get the campus clean. This is “purely a service to the campus,” Butterworth said. “It isn’t just to make organizations look good.”