ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Have you noticed trash on the ground all throughout the City of Abilene? Some residents are trying to help with this problem by hosting a clean-up event this weekend in one particularly debris-ridden area.
On the way to meet with the man spearheading this event, KTAB/KRBC ran into Jane Ryan, a 72-year-old Abilene resident who says she is currently disabled, but still has to pick up trash outside of her home.
“I am supposing it’s just blown in from everywhere and nobody has tried to pick it up,” Ryan hypothesized.
Ryan claimed that more trash has been blowing into her yard lately, and because she says she and her live-in niece are both disabled, they need help, “We just come out here and try to do the best that we can.”
People like Ryan are who Chris Daughtery, founder and operator of a group called From Boys to Gentlemen, are working to serve.
“You feel better in a clean environment, and again, some people are able, some people aren’t,” explained Daughtery.
Daughtery with Boys to Gentlemen is hosting an event, inviting Abilenians to help people in the Holiday Hills area who need trash picked up in that area.
“We’ll walk up and down the blocks, cleaning up trash. But we will also be… Bringing a trailer, so anyone in the community that has some things that they need to get rid of, we’ll be picking it up in the trailer,” Daughtery detailed.
Communications Director for Abilene, Mari Cockerell, told KTAB/KRBC it will take groups of like this one coming together to keep Abilene clean, with this being a windy area.
“It’s such a great help when the community jumps in to help out with that, because we all have the same goal,” praised Cockerell.
Cockerell also said Solid Waste Services has such tight schedules that it is difficult for them to find time to pick up trash that flies away. She added, waste services can’t pick up at many areas because it is not the city’s property.
Even though this event is not where Ryan is located, Daughtery says their goal is to clean all of Abilene eventually by hosting events in different locations. He said he others in the community will step up and do the same.
“We want to be guilty of being about action and not just sitting around talking about the problem,” says Daughtery.
Keep Abilene Beautiful can help provide equipment, according to Cockerell, if anyone else would like to host a clean-up event.
This event will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 11. If you are interested in this event, text (325) 514-9401.
