Spring cleaning: Volunteers fanned out across two Ardmore locations to clean up litter

The Daily Ardmoreite

Harley Clark and Ja'Zarah Singleton-Williams were among the youngest volunteers during a cleanup event Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The event aimed to collect five garbage bags of litter from the Ardmore Community Pool and Big 5 Apartments

Volunteers spent about three hours on Wednesday afternoon collecting litter from Ardmore neighborhoods thanks to a joint effort by the Ardmore High School FCCLA, the Carter County NAACP and the Ardmore Beautification Council.

Shortly after noon, about a dozen volunteers headed to neighborhoods surrounding the Ardmore Community Pool and Big 5 Apartments with safety vests, trash bags and orange trash pickers provided by the beautification council. Organizer Lindsey Walker, who is also the AHS FCCLA teacher, said before the cleanup that she hoped to fill five garbage bags with litter.

"These are huge staples here in the community, specifically in the Black community here in Ardmore, and they definitely need our TLC and attention," she said.

Cleanup organizer Lindsey Walker tells volunteers locations targeted by a cleanup event Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Several city commission candidates were among the nearly dozen volunteers.

A similar event was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and collected 11 large trash bags of litter from neighborhoods along East Main Street.

Walker said Wednesday's cleanup was also supported by Little Ceaser's Pizza and Casa Romo, who each agreed to donate food to volunteers after the event.