Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) ended the month of April – Earth Month - at Spring Trails Park with their “Great American Cleanup/Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off.” The original cleanup scheduled for April 7 had to be rescheduled due to weather, but thanks to a dedicated group of Geocachers, KIB was able to hold the event on April 29. A total of 31 Geocachers from various locations (even as far away as Birmingham, Alabama) gathered at the north Campion Trails location on a beautiful sunny day to participate in the cleanup. Not only did they collect 86 pounds of trash and 67 pounds of recyclables during their 62 hours of service, but they also searched for hidden “caches” along the way.
Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which participants use a GPS device or mobile phone app to navigate their way to a hidden container called a cache. When they find the cache, they sign a log to show they were there, and perhaps take or leave an item like a trinket or trackable coin. Two of the caches at this event contained special prizes – or swag - for the lucky geocachers who found them first.
“It’s always exciting to work with a new group,” said KIB Board Member Kelly Horn. “Geocaching is a new activity for us, but it fits in with KIB’s mission very well. This was a great group to work with, and they were able to combine their geocaching activity with a cleanup. They covered quite a large area up and down the trails, particularly along the tree lines, to collect litter before it reached the Elm Fork of the Trinity River.”
Event sponsors included Vizient, Verizon, Kroger, FASTSIGNS Irving/Las Colinas, Rambler Newspapers, The Burb, Irving Family YMCA, North Lake College, Keep Texas Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful. The City of Irving Parks and Recreation Department provided technical guidance, and a staff member who collected full bags of trash and recyclables and drove them back to the central collection site to be weighed and recorded.
Keep Irving Beautiful is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award-winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, Keep Irving Beautiful reaches out to all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations. If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, or making your activity a “green event,” please go to Keep Irving Beautiful, or call (972) 721-2175.