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For two days, the Keep Alabama Beautiful organization has made the Foot Soldiers Park Administrative offices within The Selma-Times Journal Building their home to discuss the importance of keeping the state as well as the cities around clean.

Executive director Denise Taylor of the Keep Alabama Beautiful organization partnered with Councilwoman and long-time resident Jannie Thomas to kick off the non-profit’s annual event.

“I am a very big advocate when it comes to public safety and the history in my neighborhood,” Thomas said. “I grew up as a child and I still live in my same neighborhood today and some of the things I worked so hard on to get, you can’t get everything back like it used to be, but you want to restore as much of it if you can.”

Thomas said she has been a part of the non-profit event ever since she was elected as councilwoman for district seven in 2016. She said that it was right on time for her to be a part of it and something that she needed to do.

“This is what I needed,” Thomas said. “I needed the tools to turn my city around and from that day one. Goodness, it means a lot to me, and it gives me the feeling that I like being in the community and working with people so that’s what I do.

Thomas has been a part of the organization for eight years and said she has always volunteered her time freely to learn ways for residents to keep the city of Selma clean.

Taylor said the whole goal behind the partnership with Thomas was to inspire the people of Selma to take care and improve where they live while educating them just how to look for ways to make where they live an even better place.

“The main goal behind the event is to prevent litter,” Taylor said. “To encourage people to keep it in their car or their truck, and then when they get to where they are going, to put it in a garbage can and not throw it out on the roadways. Once we do that, we can then concentrate on the beautification of Alabama, planting trees and flowers instead.

Taylor said when residents don’t abide by the ‘Keep Alabama Beautiful’ mission and vision that they have people who will go out and volunteer to clean up the litter but encourages residents to take the initiative head on first.

“Through our partnership with the Alabama Department of Transportation, we are able to provide free litter cleanup tools so communities don’t have to worry about how to afford pickup sticks or trash bags with the assistance of 150 volunteers,” Taylor added.

Taylor said the organization even gave out vehicle litter bags to residents so that way it helps with the cleanliness of their car without posing a risk on the road.

“What we hear when we did a national survey through Keep the America Beautiful, the people who litter the most are female from ages 17 to 34, and the reason they gave is they have to keep their car clean. So, then it leads them to throw garbage out on the side of the road, and the solution to that is the vehicle litter bags to keep your trash, litter in and to keep it inside the car. Don’t litter the beautiful roadways because Alabama is a whole lot prettier when there’s no litter.”

Several organizations alongside community members attended the event across the state, ranging from Huntsville to the city of Mobile. Some members were total volunteers within the cities where they live and others worked within the county or city government in a department within their individual cities that are tasked with reducing or preventing litter, and the clean-up of the litter, according to Taylor.

“One thing that is also created from people coming together in their communities through this event is the networking aspect, getting to know your neighbors, in a good way while doing something together to make where you live better.”

The continuation of the Keep Alabama Beautiful event focused on the partnership of those within the community, keeping their sewer and river waters around them clean and the importance of trees and their growth within the communities that they live in.

For more information about Keep Alabama Beautiful, visit keepalabamabeautiful.org.