24-year-old Stefani Shamrowicz had over a month in vacation time built up with her job at a college campus recreation center. So she did what anyone in their 20s would do with their vacation time: spend the entire month picking up trash across the country.
Shamrowicz spent 23 days driving over 70 hours through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York cleaning up everything from "pee-filled bottles to lawn ornaments."
Shamrowicz funded her venture through donations, $10 for every bag of trash collected. Each person who donated had one bag of trash picked up in their name, with Shamrowicz posting on Instagram "their" bag of trash, thanking them for helping clean up their city.
Shamrowicz hopes she encouraged people to help keep their cities and towns clean.
She told Good News Network, "When I post it’s never ‘this is disgusting or we’re awful,’ it’s ‘hey I’m cleaning up this city’ and keeping a positive light on it. I’m not going to be able to pick up everything, but if everyone starts picking up some on walks or runs, that’s where the magic is."