HOUSTON — Nearly 100 volunteers spent their Saturday (April 9) picking up trash and litter in the North Channel area during Congressman Gene Green’s annual Community Clean-up. Part of Great American Cleanup and Keep Houston Beautiful Day, the event drew volunteers from 21 organizations and groups, including three local high schools, the mayor’s office, the North Channel Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Houston Police Department Northeast Division.
Sue Blackburn, an annual volunteer and active member of the Wood Shadows I Civic Club, said, “I look forward to this event every year. It is a time when people from all over our area come together for one purpose: removing as much litter as possible from our neighborhood. It is especially heartwarming to me to see these young people give up part of their weekend to improve our community. We had a little girl approximately five years old who showed up with her mother. She went out with her mother and picked up litter just like the adults. That is a wonderful way to instill community spirit at a very young age. Thank you to Congressman Green for sponsoring this event. It is exactly what every neighborhood needs.”
Community volunteers spent time along the I-10 East Freeway corridor, Greens Bayou, and neighborhoods within the North Channel Area, and planted trees at Herman Brown Park North Shore Nature Walk.
Green said, “Each year, volunteers from local schools and neighborhoods, organizations, churches, and businesses donate their time in this community effort to banish litter and trash from area parks, schools, streets, and sidewalks. It’s important work, and it brings individuals from different backgrounds and sectors together as one community.”
Community Clean-up participants included: The City of Houston – Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Office, Department of Neighborhoods, Solid Waste Department, Houston Police Department-Northeast Division, Constable Chris Diaz, Councilman Robert Gallegos, North Channel Area Chamber of Commerce, Anheuser – Busch, North Shore High School, Galena Park High School, Furr High School, Cobb 6th Grade Campus, The Rhodes School, North East Partners In Power, North Shore Community Fellowship of Faith, Northeast Houston Advisory Council, Wood Shadows I Neighborhood, Wood Shadows II Civic Club, E.T.C.P. Civic Association, Holiday Forest Civic Club, Woods Bayou Neighborhood.