Maumelle, Arkansas – The second annual ‘Great Arkansas Cleanup,’ organized by Keep Arkansas Beautiful, got underway today with the goal of enhancing communities, environmental health, and quality of life.
On Thursday, the first day of the cleanup effort was held at several areas throughout Maumelle.
“Starting today, through Sunday, we are having our Keep Maumelle Beautiful campaign, it’s a part of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Campaign that’s done all over the state,” said Cydney Thompson, the Communications Coordinator for the City of Maumelle. “We have a lot of different students, families, civic organizations that work together to just volunteer their time to clean up Maumelle.”
Over a million dollars worth of economic value was returned to Arkansasian communities in 2022 alone. Every year, thousands of Arkansans clean up tons of trash from the state’s parks, shorelines, roads, and public spaces.
“This is significant for Maumelle because Maumelle is a giving community so I think being able to allow them to do this volunteering event over the three days, or one day that they choose, it kind of helps them give back to Maumelle and make their own city beautiful in their own way,” Thompson said.
For volunteers, Keep Arkansas Beautiful gives all the tools they need.
“They provide the gear, the swag, the T-shirts, the stickers, bumper stickers, banners, they provide all the trash bags, gloves, things that you need to actually pick up the trash and get rid of it,” Thompson said.
The city of Maumelle has been a part in the Great Arkansas Cleanup for three years.
Thompson claims that the community’s opinion of this campaign is already favorable.
“Over the course of four days last year we had about 85 participants, so I think it’s been a really good hit, it’s been perceived really well with our residents and different students.”
October 22 is the last day of the Great Arkansas cleaning; if you would like to help, go to keeparkansasbeautiful.com.