Tom Bean Beautification Committee needing volunteers for Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off April 4

The 2009 Don't Mess with Texas Trash-Off will take place on Saturday April 4, 2009. And you and everyone you know are invited to join in.

The Tom Bean Beautification Committee is needing all the volunteers that they can get for the day’s event which starts at 8:00 a.m. in the Community Center. The Committee adopted a two-mile stretch of Highway 11 which extends from in front of the new Firestation and goes out two miles to the east toward Whitewright.

Trash bags and safety vests will be provided for the event. Please contact Mayor Sherry E. Howard at sherryhoward@cableone.net or you can call at 903-546-6321 and let her know that you will be able to join in with the community cleanup effort.

The Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off is the largest one-day statewide cleanup event in the U.S. and is a partnership between TxDOT and Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB). The event brings together KTB volunteers and Adopt-a-Highway groups from across the state to clean up their communities, parks and roadways on one designated day.

During Trash-Off, volunteers across the state will clean roadsides, parks, waterways and neighborhoods. By registering, volunteers receive trash bags, safety vests and other cleanup supplies. This year, Texans are challenged to gather even more litter than last year, where 61,000 volunteers collected more than 5,000,000 pounds of litter. Join us by signing up at www.ktb.org, or if you're part of an Adopt-a-Highway (AAH) group, contact your district AAH coordinator.

For 2009, the need for volunteers is greater than ever. Texas has more roads to keep clean, and Hurricane Ike littered extra debris over parts of the state. Despite new challenges, TxDOT has cleaned up Texas roads over the past year while maintaining its budget for the job at a steady $46 million. This funding is necessary to meet the safety, health and environmental concerns that leaving the trash would create.