Delta Zeta sisters donned high-visibility vests and carried trash pickers and plastic bags to clean up litter from the side of Hogan Lane on Feb. 18.

The sorority members cleaned a section of the road near the intersection of Dave Ward Drive and Hogan Lane that Delta Zeta adopted several years ago. 

They pick up trash from the road several times a semester to give back to the local community and build camaraderie with each other.

“We think it’s important to serve the local community,” said Charley Peyton, a Delta Zeta member and junior communication sciences major.

Delta Zeta split the cleanup into two shifts. The first group cleaned up one side of the road and the second cleaned the other for an hour.

The sorority adopted the section of Hogan Lane as part of the city of Conway’s Adopt-A-Street program, which it launched in 2018. Other cities have similar Adopt-A-Street programs and the state has an Adopt-A-Highway program.

Peyton said the sorority has had the stretch of Hogan Lane for “more than five years or so.”

“We really just encourage our girls to get involved in their local community and stand up for what’s right and be leaders,” Peyton said. “I think doing something like highway cleanup on Sunday when it’s a beautiful day, that’s a good way to practice that on a small scale.” 

Kailee Massey, a junior member on the second cleanup shift, said some of Delta Zeta’s main values are “working hard and giving back to the community.”

“We obviously have a lot of philanthropy events but this one is just more on the neighborhood level,” Massey said.

“We really want to get out into our own community and just serve,” Massey said. “We really want to better where we are living and give back to the city we live in.”

Amity Lemmer, a member who also participated in the cleanup, said other organizations that want to get involved in similar community service projects should “just do it.”

“I think in the long run it’s worth it because you get to see the impact that you’re making,” Lemmer said.

“We walk all the way down and pick up trash as we go and then we walk back [and] we get to look at all of the work we did and it makes us feel good and we’re giving back to the community,” Lemmer said. “I think it’s important for us to do that.”

“We’re encouraging others and we get to do it with our sisters,” she said. 

Lemmer said one of the biggest challenges with the road cleanup is “worrying about not getting hit” by a car.

Hogan Lane does not have any sidewalks and has drainage ditches on both sides.

Peyton said another challenge is dealing with bad weather.

“When it rains, it’s hard to do it,” Peyton said. “We don’t do it when it’s lightning.”

Massey said the social perceptions of sororities can be another challenge.

“People look at us and they see us being in a sorority and they just kind of laugh,” Massey said. “They don’t think we’re actually serious about it [community service].” 

Delta Zeta does other community service projects and philanthropy events as well.

“We also do some other campus cleanups and we’ve been doing those with other sororities,” Peyton said. “That’s been super fun to get all of Greek Life together and do it on UCA’s campus.”

“We did it once last semester and then really whenever we can all plan one,” she said.

Peyton said Delta Zeta plans to clean up their stretch of Hogan Lane “the next four Sundays in a row.”