Photo by Christopher Dacanay Officials with the village of Mingo Junction stood Friday with volunteers from JSW Steel USA, who cleaned around the village’s marina.

MINGO JUNCTION — A group of volunteers from JSW Steel USA donated a new sign for the Mingo Junction Marina and worked to beautify the area Friday morning.

Surrounded by a dense fog, about 22 workers from JSW’s Mingo Junction steel manufacturing facility gave their time to clean up the marina, including power washing and shoveling 18 inches of compressed dirt off the ramp and collecting around 15 bags worth of trash. 

Workers also installed a new sign to welcome visitors to the marina, which is used frequently for fishing, small boat launches and other recreational activities. The marina’s previous sign had been damaged beyond repair years prior, and the new sign fully replicates the original.

The day’s efforts were part of JSW’s continued involvement in the annual Ohio River Sweep, a multi-state initiative to clean up parts of the Ohio River’s 3,000 miles of shoreline and various tributaries. The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Foundation for Ohio River Education, state environmental protection agencies and other partners have been organizing clean-ups for the yearly sweep in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania since 1989.

Operating out of Mingo Junction’s former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill since 2018, JSW has been participating in the river sweep for four years. Its plant sits along the Ohio River and is a neighbor to Cross Creek, which the marina overlooks.

“JSW Steel USA values being good stewards to the community in which we work and live. We regularly work on beautification projects around our mill and participate annually in the Ohio River Sweep. When we saw that the Mingo Junction Marina sign had been damaged, we wanted to help,” said Jonathan Shank, COO of JSW Steel USA.

The mill itself was established in 1856 but has undergone numerous upgrades, according to Kelly Boudreaux, JSW’s marketing and communication specialist. Currently employing 400 workers, the mill now houses an electric arc furnace, a ladle metallurgy furnace, a slab caster and an 80-inch hot rolling mill.

“We proudly melt and manufacture steel locally that is sent all over the nation and North America,” Shank said. “While our responsibility to our stakeholders includes providing a safe work environment for our team members and providing competitive compensation to them, it also includes responsibility toward our community, including our extended neighbors. On behalf of our entire JSW team, thank you to Mayor (Judy) Ruckman for joining us in unveiling the new sign.” 

Ruckman, who’s nearing the end of her first year as Mingo Junction’s mayor, said JSW’s effort is “absolutely appreciated. She added that the work helps restore hometown pride and takes a burden off of the village’s small but busy service department.

“We’re very grateful and thankful for them doing this for us,” Ruckman said. “We’re very appreciative of all who came to help today because it’s not easy work, and it relieves my service garage to do other things throughout the town.”

Ruckman, Village Administrator Darrin Corrigan and Mingo Junction Village Councilwoman Patti Mannarino watched as JSW employees worked, with Ruckman raising the U.S. flag over the marina on the nearby flagpole.