Volunteers Help ‘Keep Victoria Beautiful’

It's a proven fact, nothing makes you feel better than doing something for someone else. Just ask the young volunteers from Stroman Middle School National Junior Honor Society, Miss Victoria and her court, and volunteers from Dow who partnered with 'Keep Victoria Beautiful' last Saturday.

Stroman Middle School students were all chatters and giggles Saturday as they volunteered with Keep Victoria Beautiful to clean up neighborhood streets. Gloria Tonsul-Lucas said she was particularly impressed with the 25 students who came to the final Stroman Middle School National Junior Honor Society community service project because the students have been taking tests at school last week. "We had a good turnout in spite of the early hour on a Saturday," Tonsul-Lucas told the Victoria Advocate. "We're trying to beautify the area."

The middle school students coupled with the Miss Victoria court and volunteers from Dow to create a force of about 40 volunteers. The Keep Victoria Beautiful volunteer crew covered several blocks between East Crestwood Street and Fillmore Avenue and between Winsdor and Laurent streets. The volunteers went door to door cleaning up garbage along the streets asking residents whether they had any large items they wanted disposed of and helping them carry those items to the roadside for waste management crews to collect. Volunteers also recreated the flower bed around the entrance to Shields Magnet School, planting flowers donated by the Devereux Foundation.

The city sponsors the "clean sweep" in three neighborhoods a year. "Our next neighborhood sweep will be in October," said Keep Victoria Beautiful board president Jeffery Poche said. "But we will have other projects between now and then."

KIXS 108 says a big thank you to all the volunteers who took part in this important event.