Amanda, Maija and Tim Brandish find litter to collect and bag. Photo: Tyra Damm

By Tyra Damm

Have you noticed that Frisco looks a little cleaner, a little greener this week? You can thank the hundreds of volunteers who spread out across the city Saturday to “Clean It & Green It.”

If you were out and about Saturday morning, you couldn’t miss the green-shirted folks with their eyes to the ground, looking for litter to bag. About 1,700 residents registered with the city for the annual beautification project.

The Brandish family – dad Tim, mom Amanda, 5-year-old daughter Maija – gave up their usual Saturday morning routine around the house and yard to clean up fields near their Hunters Creek neighborhood.

They were part of a team organized by Carolyn Lis, who pulled together members of Cub Scout Pack 142 and Hunters Creek neighbors. Those volunteers gathered at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the Isbell Elementary School parking lot to pick up assignments, supplies and safety tips.

Carolyn warned everyone of the dangers of critters, especially snakes, under older debris; poison oak and poison ivy; ant mounds and broken glass. She armed the folks – who seemed not a bit intimidated by the wilds of suburban life – with gloves, garbage bags for trash and recycling, and neon green T-shirts.

Volunteers received neon green T-shirts to commemorate Clean It & Green It and the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Photo: Tyra Damm

“We’re a pretty clean neighborhood,” she said. “You might be fighting each other for trash.”

The Brandishes accepted their assignment – fields by West Rowlett Creek, just south of Rolater Road and east of Independence Parkway. They walked almost a mile to get there, stopping periodically to pick up debris, which Maija was eager to point out and equally eager to pick up.

“We’ve been doing everything we can to make the community better and to keep the Earth clean and natural,” Tim said on the way.

Carolyn was right – the neighborhood was pretty clean. But down by the creek itself, where tall grasses and reeds and weeds grow, there was plenty of trash. If you couldn’t see it, you could hear it crunch underfoot.

An empty soda bottle. Grocery bags. A blue lid to a giant plastic bin. Someone’s discarded dinner. Bits of Styrofoam.

“Why do people throw trash in the creek and then other people have to pick it up?” kindergartener Maija asked as she watched her daddy gingerly walk down a steep embankment to reach even more litter.

Maija’s attitude toward litter bugs is exactly what city officials are counting on.

“It’s teaching the children to respect their environment and show community pride,” said Pippa Couvillion, Frisco’s Environmental Services Manager.

The majority of the “Clean It & Green It” volunteers come through the Frisco Independent School District. Each campus has a green team, and those teams pull in huge numbers of students and parents who are willing to pick up the trash others have left behind.

They are rewarded for their work.

All volunteers were invited to a celebration later that morning at IKEA, which was also the site of the city’s quarterly “Chunk Your Junk” event. (About 650 cars passed through various stations collecting paper, hazardous waste, appliances, books and more.)

At the celebration, volunteers dined on a hot dog lunch, mingled with fellow trash busters and waited to win Earth-friendly raffle prizes. Children were free to explore the bounce houses and Frisco fire truck on site and pose for photos with Rufus, the renowned recycling dog.

Megan Wampold, a third-grader at Bledsoe Elementary, was part of the festive crowd, though it was hard to tear her away from her litter assignment.

“I didn’t want to stop,” the 9-year-old said. “I like to save the Earth.”

Myles Keyes, a fourth-grader at Allen Elementary, and his mom Sandra joined the celebration after cleaning land near their neighborhood. Photo: Tyra Damm

Sandra Keyes participated at her son’s urging.

“It’s something he wanted to do,” she said of her Allen Elementary fourth-grader, Myles. “For him to think about that without me encouraging him is great.”

They spent the morning braving muddy conditions to clean up fields around Legacy Drive and Cotton Gin Road.

There has been a citywide clean-up in Frisco since 1989, and it gets bigger every year – not surprising given Frisco’s off-the-charts growth and strong sense of community responsibility.

The volunteers’ work helps more than the city’s image, says Jeremy Starritt, Frisco’s Environmental Education Coordinator. When folks pick up trash, they are saving our groundwater from additional pollutants and saving the lives of small animals that can choke on debris.

They are also saving the city and its residents money, Pippa says. “It costs money, taxpayer money, to pick up litter.” When volunteers fan out and do the work, that adds up to huge savings.

Tami Johnson and her 6-year-old daughter Lexi are veterans of the event. This year they picked up trash near Warren Parkway and Preston Road.

“It’s an easy way to help kids serve,” said Tami, whose family has been helping clean Frisco for the past five years. “It helps the kids stay aware. People have to pick up when you litter.”

After picking up litter around the city, volunteers gathered at IKEA for a hot dog lunch. Photo: Tyra Damm