Daylong cleanup event about community pride

Bridging the Gaps of Arkansas-Sandflat-GlendaleShannon Neighborhood Center is having a Community Clean Up Event from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 16.

There will be two trash bins at the center, 209 E. 14th St., Texarkana, Ark. The bins will be taken away promptly at 1 p.m.

Barbara Pitts Riley, managing partner of Bridging the Gaps, said cleanup events like this are great for community pride.

“To clean up the area around your home and your neighborhood brings a sense of pride and adds value. It also makes it aesthetically pleasing. When homes have good curb appeal, people aren’t afraid to walk down the streets or drive through the neighborhood because it’s clean and attractive,” Pitts Riley said.

The Youth Leadership Development group of Bridging the Gaps is leading the effort.

“With young people involved with this cleanup, it will help give them a sense of accomplishment. When they walk through the neighborhood and drive down the street they’ll be able to say ‘We helped cut that yard’ or ‘We helped clean up that lot.’ It helps kids remember not to litter,” Pitts Riley said.

There are benefits for adults who participate in the event.

“With adults, I think if they come out and work together it gives them a sense of kinship or connectedness because they have pride in their community and their street. They want it to be clean and they want it to look nice,” Pitts Riley said. More volunteers are needed. “We need volunteers, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, other organizations that want to come and pick an area where they’re going to clean. We have a couple of seniors in our community whose yards might need to be mowed or picked up. We could use people with a truck or trailer that could drive along and we could just throw stuff on the trailer until we get back. That would be great,” Pitts Riley said.

For more information about the cleanup, contact the Sandflat Center at 870-330-7909 or Pitts Riley at 903-908-9754.