Keep El Dorado Beautiful praises local volunteers

Keep El Dorado Beautiful and its community partners are continuing to make strides in building a sustainable cleanup campaign to help keep the city litter-free.

Janis Van Hook, president of KEB, said the group has been pleased with the number of individuals and organizations who have volunteered in recent months to adopt city streets for cleaning.

Van Hook said KEB has been even more impressed with the work the adopters have been doing and their commitment to regularly maintain their designated areas.

“We’ve gotten some new people coming on board adopting areas, adopting streets and I am extremely pleased with them,” Van Hook said. “They’ve been working on their streets at least twice a month.”

She said the adopters have joined a small but dedicated cluster of local groups and individuals who, for years, have been doing their part to tackle litter and help beautify El Dorado.

Over the years, KEB has assisted groups in coordinating community cleanups and has initiated its own.

KEB has also acknowledged and commended the hard work of local residents who regularly pick up in their neighborhoods, with some even clearing streets, sidewalks and other public areas of litter while out for daily walks.

Van Hook previously reported that local residents logged 146 volunteer hours picking up litter between April and May.

Forty-six of those hours were clocked by the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Union County (ULEAD).

The work coincided with The Great American Cleanup, which is held annually from March 1 until May 31.

The annual Great American Cleanup and Great Arkansas Cleanup are promoted by KEB and the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission each spring and fall, respectively.

The Great Arkansas Cleanup kicks off on the first Saturday after Labor Day and runs through Oct. 31.

Local volunteer hours and other information, including photos of cleanups and adopt-a-street signs, are being compiled by KEB and submitted to the KABC, Van Hook said.

KEB members have said that keeping such information on file with the KABC helps KEB and the city of El Dorado maintain good standing with the KABC and Keep America Beautiful.

While there is plenty of work left to be done, KEB members have said that all local cleanup efforts work in

concert to “Keep El Dorado Beautiful.”

The efforts also help to advance KEB’s goal of providing residents with the tools and resources they need to help keep the city clean and raising awareness about the group’s mission, which focuses on litter prevention, recycling and beautification.

Street adoptions are slowly spreading to all parts of the city, Van Hook said.

“We have not had a good response from the east side of town. We are encouraging the east side to step up, if they can. We would appreciate their participation,” she said.

On the east side of El Dorado, the Williams Family is covering the Askew Addition, just south of Hillsboro between South Madison Avenue and Rock Island Right of Way.

The Young Artist Studio has adopted South Washington/South West Avenue between Hillsboro and Sharp streets.

“They are working their butts off. The west side of town, the north side of town and the south side of town have been very responsive,” Van Hook said. “We would like other groups come on board and work with us.”

Volunteers who are interested in adopting city streets may call Van Hook at 870-918-2706, visit the KEB Facebook page or attend a regular KEB meeting.

The group meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Monday of the month in the Community Room on the second floor of Simmons First Bank, 100 W. Grove.

KEB members have stressed that volunteers who adopt streets will be expected to make a commitment and remain actively involved in keeping the areas clean.

The city will make and erect signs denoting the groups and individuals who have adopted streets.

Streets may also be adopted in honor of loved ones, KEB members have said.

Other plans

KEB is fleshing out other ideas and activities to spread its message and raise its visibility in the community.

Members have said that many people don’t understand the mission of KEB or that the group even exists.

KEB is often mistaken as a city cleanup crew but its goal is to help educate the community about local tools and resources to help keep the city clean and to assist volunteer groups in any way possible with cleanup projects, KEB members have said.

Last May, KEB set up a community booth at the Mayhaw Festival and has since agreed to take similar steps at upcoming events, including the SouthArk Outdoor Expo on Sept. 10 and MusicFest on Oct. 7 and 8.

Ward cleanups

By the spring of 2023, KEB hopes to relaunch its quarterly ward cleanups.

In 2018 and 2019, KEB worked with El Dorado City Council members to coordinate community cleanups in each of the city’s four wards.

The intent was to schedule one cleanup per quarter and with assistance from Clean Harbors, KEB offered cash incentives for volunteer groups who participated.

In 2020, Dan Roblee, general manager of Clean Harbors and a member of KEB, said the company would not be able to offer the cash incentives for the year.

The ward cleanups were also called off in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEB members are discussing the reboot with Clean Harbors and exploring options for other incentives to encourage volunteers to participate.

“We are trying get our finances in order and just keeping our fingers crossed that we can get it started back up again,” Van Hook said.

This time, she said, KEB will key in on youth groups to assist the groups with funding.

“Church groups, sports teams — all of those organizations need funds for the activities that they do,” Van Hook said.

Because summer temperatures tend to soar in South Arkansas, KEB members said the ward cleanups, if rebooted, will likely be scheduled in the spring and fall.

“We hope to do two wards for the spring and two for the fall because it’s too hot for anybody to be out there in the summer,” Van Hook explained.

Schools

KEB is also deepening its reach into local schools as part of an ongoing effort to inspire and educate children from an early age about litter-prevention, with the hopes that the children will share what they learn with their families.

In April, the group conducted its annual Earth Day project in partnership with Northwest Elementary School.

For the past several years, KEB member Jeri Ratcliff has headed up “Plant the Town Purple”, a project in which KEB works with Northwest to distribute hundreds of low-maintenance, “Wildcat Purple”-colored plants to students, faculty and staff, who are encouraged to plant the flowers at home.

KEB plans to solidify plans to permanently expand the program to other elementary schools — Yocum and, possibly, Hugh Goodwin — to celebrate Earth Day 2023.

During KEB’s appearance at the Mayhaw Festival, members were joined by the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission mascot, Otto the Otter, who was a big hit among children at the festival, Van Hook said.

KEB distributed materials featuring Otto and the group plans to take the program into local schools for the upcoming school year, which starts Monday in El Dorado.

“We handed a lot of Otto material out — coloring books, activity books — and the kids really loved it. We ran out,” she previously said.

“He’s a mascot who fights litter. We have story books to read in the schools and stickers and all kinds of stuff that we’re going to hand out,” Van Hook said continued.

She said the El Dorado School Board has signed off on the program and ULEAD graduates Sara Coffman, Gabby Pitard and Elizabeth Young are part of a subcomittee that is taking the lead on the project.

“Keep Arkansas Beautiful is sending whatever supplies they need and we’re not sure yet, but we’re hoping to get Otto in town for a visit,” Van Hook said.

The KABC debuted Otto, a North American River Otter, in 2017 with the motto, “You Otto Not Litter”!

Mural

KEB is also working to add its stamp to a downtown crosswalk art project with plans for crosswalk mural at the intersection of East Main and South Washington Avenue.

The project was launched in 2021 by Main Street El Dorado and so far, local artists have drawn murals at three downtown intersections — North Washington and Elm; North Jefferson and Elm; and Main and North Jefferson

Van Hook said the KEB mural be the first to be painted at the intersection of Main and North Washington.

Funds have been donated for the mural and the work is expected to begin on north side of the intersection once temperatures cool down and the asphalt is suitable for painting, she said.