In the spring, we annually participate in the national Great American Cleanup, which is the largest community improvement effort in America. More than 20,000 communities participate in this Keep America Beautiful effort.

Each year, we have at least 900-plus volunteers bring this event to life in Liberty County. If you have thought about participating but are not sure what to do, I have an idea. Why don’t you start right where you live — on your block, your street or your neighborhood?

It could be as easy as hosting your own block party to spruce up your neighborhood.

First thing, take a walk around your block and see what might need help. Could your block or neighborhood benefit from a litter pick up? Does the front entry to your neighborhood need a "facelift," raking up and weeding and planting a few fresh plants? Or it could be there is an island or community area that looks a little ragged and could use some tender loving care?

Once you have assessed a project to do, it is time to chat with your neighbors and determine how to approach getting your project done. It could be that y’all just pick a Saturday morning or an afternoon after work and dig in, or you could create fliers and invite your whole neighborhood to a block party event to create awareness with your neighbors and get your projects done.

Whether you choose a litter pick up or a landscape/garden project, we can help at Keep Liberty Beautiful. We have tools and supplies that we can loan out, seeds and other supplies we can donate, and we even have Great American Cleanup t-shirts we can provide for your volunteers that help.

We want your project to be successful because that makes our community look good. Cleaning up your neighborhood has many long-term benefits besides just that, though.

Community efforts like this can bring a neighborhood together and help neighbors get to know each other. That can help increase awareness and security efforts in your community.

Research tends to point out that cleaner, well-maintained communities seem to have less vandalism and other criminal activity. Properties that are cared for are a good thing for everyone.

I also need to mention the obvious, which is that efforts like this can also be fun. We have several neighborhoods that make their events a party, too.

At KLB we also have a program called NEAT Neighborhoods to create awareness for efforts by our local neighborhoods.

We provide a "NEAT Neighborhood" sign that can be displayed proudly in your neighborhood each quarter for the improvement projects that you do.

So contact us today at Keep Liberty Beautiful today and let’s get started. If you would like to coordinate your event with one of our upcoming citywide cleanup days, here are the dates on our horizon:

• March 24, area cleanups in Flemington, Midway and the East End Community

• April 28, citywide cleanup in Hinesville

Registered volunteers for these events, whether they just join in the area litter cleanups or have a neighborhood community improvement project, get volunteer GAC T-shirts and are invited to picnic lunches post cleanup.

So mark us on your calendar, and contact us at keeplibertycountybeautiful@gmail.com, 9112-880-4888 and www.keeplibertybeautiul.org. We would love to have you involved.