From left, Linda, Jane and Harlan Porfiri prepare for their Pickin’ Up Tennessee trip.While Harlan Porfiri, 8, imagined her summer vacation totally different, some elements are still the same. Harlan is taking a trip with her family – it just happens to be a monthlong RV trip across the state of Tennessee all in the name of cleaning up the state.
Her family, comprised of her 10-year-old sister Jane and parents, documentary filmmakers Linda and Dave Porfiri, are “Pickin’ Up Tennessee.” Their trip, which the Porfiris are filming, is being sponsored by a Tennessee Department of Transportation grant to Scenic Tennessee.
According to TDOT, in fiscal year 2011-2012 more than 23 million pounds of litter were collected along 428,441 miles of county, state route and interstate roadsides.
The family left their Harrison-area home June 1 for the first of four “loops,” or trips, to five cities in Tennessee where they will hold organized cleanups and a local concert to promote litter pickup. Footage shot during the concerts and cleanups will be edited into a documentary by the Porfiri family.
“There’s so much trash on the countryside, like people throw it out of their cars on the freeway,” Harlan said while in between trips for the Pickin’ Up Tennessee tour. “We saw a pizza box … a bunch of plastic bottles and cans. It was really bad.”