Heading into October, the Levelland Chamber of Commerce is starting the month with the Community Wide Clean-Up Day.
The clean up day is slated for Saturday, October 8, with volunteers meeting at the Best Western located at 204 N College Avenue.
Breakfast will be provided at 8:30a.m. Volunteers will be split into small groups and clean in several areas in the city. The majority of the focus will be around and along Highway 114. Keep Levelland Beautiful will provide trash bags, gloves and pickers.
For more information, individuals can call 894-3157.
Special Projects Manager Kelly Hancock has been working on ironing out the details for the event. “I have been out and about meeting with all of our civic organizations asking them to help put together teams to help us clean,” said Hancock. She had met with both Rotary Clubs and the Noon Lions Club asking for help. Chamber of Commerce President Mary Siders also works with groups such as the Young Emerging Leaders of Levelland (YELL) to get other chamber groups involved as well as Levelland ISD to help with the cleanup. Hancock added that the Walmart in Levelland helped tremendously as 40 employees participated in the last cleanup.
“We have a great relationship with the city and the public, so we are hoping we have an amazing turnout from them as well,” said Hancock. “We are also relying on word of mouth, social media, our News-Press and the radio station to encourage people to come out and clean our city for our community members and the guests who travel to our city.”
With two of the biggest facilities that draw in visitors from other areas being the Mallet Event Center and the Oxy Sport Complex, events such as the clean up are intended to help the community put its best foot forward and keep home clean.
Additionaly, Hancock is working with the City of Levelland Code Enforcement Officer Eli Colunga in pinpointing other areas that could benefit from the clean up.
“There are different areas around town such as alley ways and different places that are high traffic areas that need to be cleaned up,” explained Hancock.
Since Hancock has been in her position at the chamber, she has seen a steady number of volunteers ranging from 35 to 60 people.
“The fall is a little tougher when trying to get more volunteers because there are a lot of activities vying for peoples’ time,” explained Hancock. “When the committee looks at all the clean up dates we take in all the calenders within Levelland and pick the best day that will give us an advantage to bring in more volunteers.”
For people who are planning to volunter for the October clean up, the committee will be holding a competition to see who can find the most unique item during the event.
The winner of the competition will recieve a free Keep Levelland Beautiful t-shirt.
Hancock emphasized how important these clean up efforts are when it comes to making a difference.
“From the fall of 2017 through the fall of 2022, our volunteers have saved taxpayers roughly $30,000 in terms of offering their time to pick up trash that our streets and parks officials do not have to deal with,” said Hancock. “This even helps save taxpayers money and our town also looks better because of the efforts.”
The weekend of the cleanup will take place before the fall break for Levelland ISD students and Hancock feels that scheduling the event to take place at that time will benefit the chamber and the individuals who are wanting to volunteer their time.
To maintain their goal status within Keep Texas Beautiful, there must be a minimum of two cleanups.
That is the intention of the Keep Levelland Beautiful committee. The fall cleanup was originally called the Fall Sweep. However, the committee felt the name was in need of re-branding.
“With re-branding the event to the Community Wide Clean-Up, our younger committee members felt it was necessary as it would appeal to the younger people who would be interested in these types of events,” explained Hancock.
The spring event has already been set for April 1, as it is necessary to get the dates on calenders with other entities scheduling activities.
Another event the committee is working on is a reusable bag campaign with United Supermarkets.
Additionally, the committee is working on an electronic recycling event that will be held in conjunction with the Community Wide Clean-Up on April 1. More details for this event will be available at a later date.
Hancock thanked the volunteers and committee members who have continued to show their support by helping in events such as the clean up to keep Levelland looking its best.
“Hopefully, we will continue to see more people volunteer their time to help keep the community clean, but I couldn’t be more thankful for the people who always go out of their way to be a part of these events.”