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ZZUNUSED
Stadium's cleanup crew says school spirit inspires hard work
Goodwill employee and Arlin Jackson replaces the trash bags in the trash barrels Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, as he and other workers clean the Joan C. Edwards Stadium in preparation for Saturday's game.
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HUNTINGTON -- After every Marshall University home football game, there is one group of diehards that stay at the stadium for hours, and it's not the team or stadium staff.
It's the cleanup crew.
"The people who work these games are incredibly dedicated," said Bryan Swalley, assistant director of contracts at Goodwill.
Goodwill employees have been helping to clean the stadium since its inception, said Mark Adams, Goodwill's director of industrial contracts.
This week, staff has again been preparing the Joan C. Edwards Stadium, as Marshall takes on Memphis at 7 p.m. today.
This year Goodwill also is working with Kelly Services, who has hired people to clean the bowl area of the stadium. The additional crew helps finish the job faster, Adams said.
Goodwill employee Arlin Jackson of Wayne County has been part of the cleaning efforts since 1994. He helps out at every home game and said the cleanup is a long process, but he likes it.
The Marshall fan said he enjoys the outdoor atmosphere, the people, and the game -- when he gets to watch it. Jackson's typical duties include picking up around the concourses and running the street vacuum. He said Marshall expects a good job from the workers, many who have been cleaning the stadium for a long time.
"We want to take pride in what we do, and we actually enjoy what we do," Jackson said. "We want to show our school spirit and our Goodwill spirit."
Like many others, Jackson said he's happy to be a part of the university's image. He also gets an adrenaline rush seeing the team take the field.
Swalley said the Goodwill workers don't just put in time at the stadium. They have full-time jobs, too.
"We're really blessed at Goodwill to have the workers that we do," Swalley said.
Adams said many of the workers go home after their shifts at the stadium, eat and change clothes, and report to their other jobs.
"We've got a really good staff who work a lot of hours," he said.
After the first home game last month, many of the staff stayed at the stadium until nearly 3 a.m. cleaning. They cleaned on two more days, too, devoting more than 18 hours to the work.
Adams said the crew tries to finish most of the work in one evening, but often there is too much to do. A typical cleanup usually fills three 23-cubic-yard trash bins. After the West Virginia University game last year, employees ran out of places to put the garbage, he said.
Adams said 23 full-time Goodwill staff and 15 Kelly Services employees worked the first home game this year. Goodwill workers focused on areas such as the bathrooms, concourses, parking lots and garage, while Kelly Services workers picked up trash inside the bowl. When that was done, Goodwill employees began moving in to tackle other debris, like peanut shells.
Much work also has to be done before the game, from ordering supplies months before the season starts to stocking bathrooms.
Prior to the first home game, Adams said he walked the stadium three times to make sure there was no sign of loose water bottles, newspapers or other trash.
But Swalley said those aren't the only things picked up around the bleachers. Over the years he's seen wallets, phones and even liquor bottles and other prohibited items. Once an employee found $100 and turned it in to lost and found, he said.
