Trash-Off Saturday to keep Whitehouse beautiful

Keep Whitehouse Beautiful invites everyone to join with them for the Don't Mess With Texas Trash-Off on Saturday, April 14 from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants will meet at the Whitehouse City Park beginning at 8:30 a.m. to register, claim T-shirts and goodie bags.

The first 300 volunteers will receive a trash-off T-shirt. While at the park, bid on the silent auction item, a Troy-Bilt chipper/ shredder/vacuum, valued at $550. The winner will be announced at noon.

Every year churches, business leaders, employees, concerned citizens, scouts, teachers and students assist in the removal of thousands of pounds of litter and debris from the community's roadways. KWB is still signing up teams for the annual event. Last year, the event involved more than 200 volunteers, bringing the community together to clean 28 miles of roadway and remove 10,728 pounds of litter and debris from Smith County roads in just 3 hours.

"We hope you will join the volunteers walking together to clean our roadways," said Dorothy LaFlure, KWB Trash-Off chairperson. "If you participated in the past, you know how rewarding and fun it is to make our city clean."

Teams signed up so far are Country Place, Troop 359, Venture Crew 359, Mount Elem Baptist Church, Oakbrook Estates, POP Teens (from Prince of Peace Catholic Church), Mount Carmel Baptist Church, Allstate (Kelly Boyce), Whitehouse Library, YMCA, New Canaan Baptist Church, Cub Scouts Pack 248, Boy Scouts Troop 248 and students from Whitehouse High School.

Along with KWB, sponsors of this year's event are Southside Bank, EOG Resources Inc., Custom Graphics, Health Plus, Ronnie Van Baugh and Up-ACreek Coffee Shop.

Business members of KWB include Kee Electric; Farmer's Insurance, Kay Taylor, agent; John N. Yarbrough, Attorney at Law; Southside Bank; State Farm Insurance, Chuck Osborn, agent; Family Dentistry, Mark Parsons and Foy Hamons; Whitehouse Flowers and Gifts; Dr. Rodney Wiseman; Ronnie Van Baugh, Attorney at Law; Dairy Queen of Whitehouse; Austin Bank; and the Tri County Leader.

Participants will need to wear comfortable walking shoes, long pants and bring a pair of gloves.

Following the Trash Off, return to Whitehouse City Park with a tally of trash bags and large items collected and receive a coupon from Chick-fil-A.

Contact LaFlure at KWB75791@yahoo.com or call Helen Hutto at 903-839-3642 to register your team or for more information.

"Life is good in Whitehouse. However, unsightly roadside litter is a liability to all," said LaFlure. "Let's work together to make this day a whole community effort and then enjoy driving on litter free roads."