As part of the annual event, Keep Troup Beautiful will host community awareness fairs with environmental and conservation groups on hand to share information about their organizations.
“We wanted to give people an opportunity to learn about local organizations that target environmental or conservation concerns and we wanted to give these groups an opportunity to promote their organizations,” said Doris Jefferson, executive director of Keep Troup Beautiful.
“We think this will be a community-building effort that will add to the excitement of the Great American Cleanup, and it’s a way to recycle items that will benefit neighborhood organizations.”
Community awareness fairs will be held at closing celebrations Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce and Calvin Hipp Park in Hogansville. West Point, which is holding its cleanup festivities a day early, will host its fair at Givorn’s parking lot from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.
Organizations setting up shop at the fair in LaGrange include: Hollis Hand Elementary School, which will collect used tennis shoes for recycling; God’s Grace Outreach, which will collect used clothing; Hillside Community; Troup County Recycles; Sierra Club; Troup TREEmendous; and the Troup County Sheriff’s Department.
In Hogansville, God’s Bread Basket will accept donations of nonperishable food items for needy local residents. Also manning tables will be the Boys & Girls Club, the Green Team from Hogansville Elementary School and the Ministerial Association.
In West Point, Harmony House and the Food Bank will accept bed linens, bath towels and food items; the Friends of Hawkes Library will collect used books; and Sav-a-Life will be collecting slightly used and new baby items.
Jefferson said she expects more than 1,000 people at Saturday’s event, but “you don’t have to do your projects that day,” she said. “The Great American Cleanup runs through May 15, so if you can’t participate on Saturday, you can always do your part in the weeks after.”
Jefferson said groups that pick up litter should let Keep Troup Beautiful know by May 15 how many bags of trash they collected so accurate statistics can be shared with Keep Georgia Beautiful.
On Saturday, cleanup participants may haul their bags of litter to the nearest Troup County convenience center or to the chamber plaza. Groups not able to haul bags on the day of the cleanup should let Keep Troup Beautiful know the roadside location by noon Saturday so they can be retrieved.
Troup County and city of LaGrange will accept tires during the cleanup at the Troup County Correctional Institute and the former location of the Fire Department at Main and East Depot streets.
Keep Troup Beautiful will collect electronics for recycling – everything except televisions, said Jefferson, noting that operable TVs may be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Closing celebrations in LaGrange and Hogansville begin at about 11:30 Saturday morning with door prizes and awards presented for various contests, including a competition among local high schools performing beautification projects and a contest to determine which group collecting trash on Saturday finds the most unusual item.
Last year’s most unusual item award went to La-Grange College students who found a set of animal bones.
The second annul Troup Trash Bash Challenge award will go to the government entity that picks up the most trash. The Troup County Commission won last year’s inaugural competition.
— For more information, call Keep Troup Beautiful at (706) 884-9922, fax at (706) 883-8215, or email djefferson@asginfo.net. Download registration forms at www. keeptroupbeautiful.com or pick them up at KTB offices at 251 S.L. White Blvd. off Callaway Church Road; the County Commission office or planning department in the Government Center; LaGrange Daily News at 105 Ashton St.; or Mimi’s Apparel in Hogansville.
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