Keep Carrollton Beautiful and all our volunteers made a major dent in the landfill with Texas Recycles Day. The cold, very windy weather didn?t slow them down, unless you want to count the tattered paper signs!

175 volunteers, mostly teens from Carrollton high schools ? Creekview, Hebron, Ranchview, Turner and Smith ? braved the winter temperatures to divert 109 ? TONS (218,800 pounds) of recyclables from the landfill! 426 cubic yards of the collection was electronics!

Keep Carrollton Beautiful?s Board of Directors was there in full force to make Texas Recycles Day happen. Cindy Baxley worked tirelessly before, during and after the event to smooth all the rough edges. Paul Duddleston got them organized and kept the spirit upbeat. Diane Taheri, with her husband Mehdi, made sure all the volunteers felt welcomed. Amy Diaz and her husband Thomas Alger made sure all the 265 donor vehicles knew who Keep Carrollton Beautiful was. And Cathey Henesey provided her usually congenial leadership to make it all work out. ?Without our Board, events this large could not happen unless I split myself into 8 parts!? said Sharon Goddard, Founder and Executive Director of Keep Carrollton Beautiful.

Part of the fuel that kept them going was ?breakfast for everyone? DELIVERED by Baibrook McDonalds! What a warm and fuzzy feeling to watch Kevin unload his truck.

Newman Smith High School was a gracious facility host, flashing their marquee with Keep Carrollton Beautiful?s event information. And their faculty member, Allen Crenshaw, led the ever-present Carrollton Evening Lions Club, with Doug Hinton and Paula Randall, to guarantee another successful event.

Special thanks goes to Michelle, Lily, Maria, Brandon, Brandon?s Dad, Travis, Hannah, HannaBee, Kayley, Josh, Collin, Dorothy and all the others who stepped up to take a personal role at the event. These great volunteers saw a need and filled it and made the fifth annual Texas Recycles Day another big community accomplishment.

The volunteers were thrilled at the sight of all the hot pizza arriving from Nichol?s Dominos, Papa John?s, Gavitt Dominos, Josey Pizza Hut and Kelly Pizza Hut. Warm pizza on a cold day really hit the spot! Other in-kind donations from Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Clif Bar, Albertsons, ABITIBI Bowater and all the recycling vendors helped to make a festive mood.

What a collaboration. Texas Recycles Day got everyone thinking about recycling at the same time the City is launching it?s RecycleBank for single-family homes. The more you recycle; the more credits you get.

?I am so grateful for all the smiling volunteers that make Keep Carrollton Beautiful possible. I can only orchestrate; they are the ones that make our events a big success. I get to see the shining community spirit everywhere I go ? what a blessing,? said Sharon.

If you were unable to shred your personal documents (due to electrical difficulties), please take them to Mosaic, Inc. and use the password TRD to get them shredded. If you would like to get involved, give them in-put on the event, or make a tax-deductable donation to Keep Carrollton Beautiful, please go to www.KeepCarrolltonBeautiful.org.