Residents can help beautify the city this weekend by spending a day picking up trash.
Keep Alachua County Beautiful, an organization devoted to reducing litter and waste in Alachua County, is hosting a kickoff event for the Great American Cleanup from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Westside Park.
Volunteers can help by picking up trash and litter, painting walls that have graffiti on them and planting flowers and trees.
Mickie MacKenzie, the event’s coordinator and the executive director of Keep Alachua County Beautiful, said the event is especially important because the government uses millions of dollars each year to pick up litter. She said money can easily be saved when residents volunteer their time.
Volunteers will be given paintbrushes, bins for trash and hazardous materials and other resources needed to beautify the community.
There will be designated sites, such as city properties or approved private sites, to volunteer.
“Anything our volunteers can do is helpful in how we are represented to outside visitors,” MacKenzie said. “But also, in the dollars that are saved.”
There will be a continental breakfast at the Saturday registration, and a pizza lunch will be provided for all volunteers.
The Great American CleanUp will continue until May 31.
Last year, about 2,000 volunteers attended the series of events for the cleanup project in Alachua County, said Florence Cline, the former president of Keep Alachua County Beautiful. She said about 160 miles of streets were cleaned.
She said the event also educates volunteers about the negative consequences of littering.
“It makes them more aware of what littering does to the community,” Cline said. “And they’re less likely to throw away litter outside their cars.”
