Volunteers participate in the Great American Cleanup

The Houston County Habitat for Humanity partnered with Keep Warner Robins Beautiful to host a neighborhood cleanup in Wellston Villas Subdivision as a part of the Great American Cleanup initiative on Saturday. 

Volunteers from multiple organizations including Frito Lay, Lockheed Martin, Wellston Trees and Green and more came to support the event by dedicating their Saturday morning to community service. The event lasted from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the large group of volunteers were able to pick up a lot of trash in that time span.

Executive Director of Keep Warner Robins Beautiful, Debra Jones estimated about 100 volunteers and says they were a great help. The large turnout also served as a reminder that she’s not the only one working towards a cleaner community. “We all kind of think we’re the only ones,” Jones said “We see all these organizations coming together and they all want to do just a little something to help us out and help each other out and I think it’s great.”

Volunteer and Member of Cultivate bible study group, Elaina Powell says giving back and taking time to shift focus should be more important to everyone. “I think a lot of people spend too much time worried about their own situations and they don’t take the time to get out and concentrate on others,” Powell said. “Every time you give, you’re giving more than a service, you’re giving a heart.

Volunteer Emma McClanahan says any effort to keep the environment clean is beneficial to the overall cause. “Every little thing matters,” McClanahan said. “Even if it’s just a little piece of trash on the side of the road or something like that.”

Last year, Daniella Edmund, Administrative Assistant for Habitat, asked Jones to partner with Habitat for a cleanup event in April. Edmund was glad to hear that her month of choice fell in line with Keep America Beautiful’s nationwide Great American Cleanup initiative. She was also happy she could celebrate her birthday on the same day. “I wanted to do a clean up for my birthday instead of anything else,”

Edmund said they decided to clean Wellston Villas because it’s the Habitat neighborhood. The city of Warner Robins donated the land to Habitat so they could build and provide homes to moderate-low income families at a zero percent interest rate.

Edmund said it was beautiful to see the volunteers participate in the event and help make a cleaner living space for their fellow citizens. “We’re a family. Keeping the community clean and keeping it beautiful is the best way to keep family.”

Jones says Keep Warner Robins Beautiful held smaller cleanup events scheduled for the Great American Cleanup but they always like to have one large inner city neighborhood cleanup every year and they are thrilled to have partnered with Habitat to do it. “We’ve partnered with other communities with similar events, but Habitat is what has made these last two so successful,” Jones said.