Carrollton, Texas –
Keep Carrollton Beautiful?s at it again; this time they are expanding their sixth annual Great American Cleanup to include all environmental efforts (i.e. cleanups, spruceups, refurbishments, garden building) everywhere in Carrollton and morphing their event to the Don?t Mess With Texas Trash-Off being held all over Texas. ?We wanted to take advantage of all the national and state media going out during March 1 through May 31. We?re just part of a much larger effort? said Sharon Goddard, Executive Director of Keep Carrollton Beautiful.

Last year, 2309 Keep Carrollton Beautiful volunteers spent 8,743 hours collecting 6,700 pounds of litter and debris from green belts, streets, parks, rivers and shorelines in Carrollton. They also had fun educating 2,000 participants about Backyard Wildlife Habitats, beneficial aquatic bugs, natural specimens at Elm Fork Nature Preserve, and stormwater run-off. Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program, involving an estimated 3-million volunteers. In 2008, the hardworking volunteers donated more than 6.7 million hours to clean, beautify and improve more than 17,000 communities during more than 30,000 events in all 50 states and beyond.

It’s Spring cleaning time! Join us on April 4, 2009 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm picking up litter and whatever else your school or neighborhood would like to tackle. Keep Carrollton Beautiful is there to help you with supplies and camaraderie. The Don?t Mess With Texas Trash-Off is an annual event that encourages Texans across the state to join forces to clean up Texas roadsides, shorelines, greenbelts, parks, school campuses and neighborhoods.

Everyone can participate! Volunteers from all walks of life – students, business leaders, civic organizations, individuals, families, churches, community groups, sororities, fraternities, sports teams, the military, etc. will be volunteering. If you have some from free time, please volunteer and make a difference. Just go to www.KeepCarrolltonBeautiful.org and register.

Your participation sends a message to Texans everywhere that the smallest efforts really do make the biggest difference. Take pride in the fact that you were part of making our great state beautiful! Join the Don?t Mess With Texas Trash-Off event and help make a difference!

?Hands-on participation is key to encouraging sustainable attitudes and behaviors toward the environment,? said Matthew M. McKenna, president & CEO of Keep America Beautiful. ?Great American Cleanup national events represent significant volunteer efforts to make major improvements in a single day. The size and scope of these events shines a national spotlight on activities that are happening in communities from coast to coast.? Hat?s off to all who volunteer to keep Texas beautiful.

In conjunction with their event this year, Keep Carrollton Beautiful is hosting another On-Line Auction to raise funds for their programs. You can preview the items starting on March 22 and bid from March 25 to April 3. Just go to their website and click on the Don?t Mess With Texas On-Line Auction button.

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Keep Carrollton Beautiful is a catalyst and community liaison making Carrollton a cleaner and more beautiful place. Keep Carrollton Beautiful is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, dedicated to engage Carrollton to enhance our community environment.

Since 2004, we have held 50 public events utilizing 7,930 volunteers. Our programs channel energy and money into community improvement in partnership with Carrollton?s public, private and civic groups. Our leadership is a volunteer Board who work in all aspects of the community.

Sharon is a third generation Carrolltonite who has spent the last five years creating community in Carrollton. She believes:

?America is in a crisis. We’re in a very Un-American jam. We are doing a very poor job educating all our children; the drop-out rate is very high — with the weather changing in much of the world to flood and/or drought; the devastation of global warming is getting clearer — the unemployment rate is raising the numbers of ‘working poor’.

All the change we need is in the average citizens’ hands. Historically, citizen leadership is the only way anything in America has ever changed. Everyone needs to do their part at home and at work. It’s up to all of us to be the best of America.?