Fall Community Clean-Up on the horizon
Families, businesses, civic groups encouraged to join together to clean up for a few hours together
A community working together can clean up a bigger area and make a more noticeable impact. The Fall Community Clean Up is set for Aug. 31 beginning at 11 a.m.
“Any person or group can choose a place to clean, how many hours they wish to work, and the date and time they wish to do it. We can also suggest places that have been turned in that need cleaned up,” Melyn Johnson said.
Clean up efforts can take place at any time, but residents are encouraged to join in during the month of September. Gathering a small group or cleaning around the neighborhood for an hour or two is sufficient. The objective is to touch as much of the community as possible during this time.
“If we have enough requests, we will have a crew chief on one of the Saturdays to allow individuals who want to, to work in a group,”
According to Johnson, sometimes school kids take time to include clean up of the school yard or area near the school.
“Sometimes the cleanup is a group of neighborhood folks working together. Sometimes it is a business working in a community park or cleaning the roadside near their business,” she said. “It is a time to pick what and where is important to you. If you have complained about a place before, this is the time to do rather than talk.”
The Fall Community Clean Up has been taking place for the past 10 years, and typically takes place twice during the year – April and September. The clean ups are part of the Main Street Design Committee's work plan.
While taking part in the Fall Community Clean Up can be done in a number of ways, many who participate normally pick up trash.
“We have winds that can blow dumpster lids open and pull trash out of the dumpsters and blow it all around our community. Even when people do not litter, it happens,” she said.
While there are people who do litter, the more conscious the community is and the more who take part in cleaning up, the better the view will be.
“We need to be conscious of and take care of as if it is our community and we care. It is especially important to get our youngsters out to clean up litter because they become more aware of the problems being a litter bug causes and are less apt to be the problem,” Johnson said. “It is a good time to clean your alleys because the weeds won't get very tall again and it makes them cleaner all through the winter.
“We want to encourage those who participate to share photos with us, encourage others to participate,” she said. “We need to all take pride in our community, roll up our sleeves for a moment and do … not plan, not talk, but get some work done.”
Those who take part are encouraged to send the number of hours worked and photos if you take any to Director@MainStreetGuymon.com.
“If they send us a photo of the group we love sharing it on Facebook. People who give a half an hour or four hours, it doesn't matter, deserve to be recognized. We love showing the volunteer hours on our reports downstate because it makes us proud of the people in our community,” she said.