Amarillo's vacant lots were once a dumping ground for trash. And complaining about it soon became a sport. Therefore, the United Way of Amarillo & Canyon's Day of Caring Committee led the community to clean up its neighborhoods.
Last spring hundreds of volunteers banded together and spread out from San Jacinto Christian Academy to vacant lots. Volunteers filled trash bags with trash, mown weeds and overgrowth. They also painted over graffiti. Since the cleanup, the San Jacinto Christian Academy students have vowed to continue their efforts for the rest of the year and on into the summer months.
Generation Next Worship Center has committed to continue and maintain the cleanup effort for the next school year and summer months. San Jacinto Christian students will then carry on the following year. The two will alternate each school year.
The cleanup project was such a huge success that the community wants to get more volunteers in on it. Amarilloans get to see, first-hand, what needs to be done to their neighborhoods and what a difference keeping it clean can make.
The North Amarillo Community Task Force was formed in 2007 by a group of north Amarillo residents who truly care about their community. Each month the task force will go out into the Northern parts of Amarillo and clean up, refurbish, repair and restore parts of the community. The task force is now looking for more volunteers to help around the community. People who live or work in the community are perfect candidates because they care about how the community looks.
The United Way 's annual "Day of Caring" is scheduled for this spring but the area for clean up has not been determined yet. Some of the possible areas are around Travis Middle School and Martin Road Park . The Day of Caring Committee is now looking for volunteers or partners to commit to keeping the area clean for one year.
Sections of Amarillo 's roads are kept pretty clean by a road adoption program. The Air Force Junior ROTC unit from Palo Duro High adopted part of U.S. Highway 60 just east of Loop 335. They have committed one weekend each month to keep that section of the Highway clean. For this, the Palo Duro ROTC unit has received the Distinguished Unit Award for four consecutive years.
We all know it's not an easy commitment of toil and sweat to improve the areas neighborhoods, but great volunteers like the ones in Amarillo are what it takes to keep a community beautiful. And Amarillo will continue to improve with the help of its proud residents.
Amarillo, Texas Community Information
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