Free Tree, Electronics, and Cardboard 2021 Event - Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful

Bring One for the Chipper 2021!

Save the date for January 9th, 2021 to recycle live trees, electronics, and cardboard!

This holiday may look a little different, but we’ve seen how much people are enjoying decorating their homes this year. If you are decorating for Christmas and plan to use a live tree make sure you have a plan for after the holiday! Save the date for Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s Annual Bring One for the Chipper Event. Over the years, this event has recycled hundreds of live Christmas trees and multiple tons of electronics.

Recycle your live, natural, undecorated Christmas tree after the holiday season and your used electronic devices at The Home Depot on 875 Shugart road on Saturday, January 9, 2021. From 8:00 am to 12:00 pm volunteers will be on-site to collect your natural trees and electronics for recycling.

New to this year we will also be collecting flattened cardboard boxes! If you have big cardboard boxes that won’t fit in your curbside bin, flatten them out and bring them along!

There is NO charge for trees and most electronics. The only fee is a $10.00 fee for CRT, or Cathode Ray Tube, television sets, and computer monitors. Typical CRT TVs have four to eight pounds of lead in them requiring them to have extra-special handling when they are being recycled and results in a higher cost.

Please remove all ornaments and the base from your trees. Electronics will be sent to a third-party recycler. Volunteers will not be removing any data from your devices before sending them onto recycling. Please make sure you wipe the data from laptops, phones, etc. before dropping off.

Participants have their pick of seed packets while supplies last and will remain in their car to help the event remain safe in 2020.

Thank you to the following event sponsors and organizers: Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Whitfield County Public Works, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, and The Home Depot.

For more information or if you want to volunteer at the event call 706-278-5001.

National Planting Day Grant Recipients

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the winners of the sixth annual School Beautification Grants for 2020.

The committee for Beautification and Community Greening established the grant program in celebration of National Planting Day, which took place on September 11 and is celebrated through the end of November.

Public and private schools in Dalton, GA, and Whitfield County were invited to apply for funding to implement a project related to planting native plants and beautifying the community. Each project aims to improve the visual aspects of the facility or provide an educational opportunity related to plants. Beautification grants range from a minimum of $200 to a maximum of $400.

Last year, one of the projects was student-led and helped create a beautiful new garden at Southeast High School

This year the following two schools were awarded a grant for their National Planting Day project:

1.  City Park Elementary - Outdoor Learning Center 

2.  Valley Point Elementary - Kindness Rock Garden

Projects will be completed by January 12, 2021 and each recipient will submit a project summary by January 26 to showcase their work. Visit Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s website www.KeepDaltonWhtifieldBeautiful.org or follow them on Facebook to get updates on the progress of these projects.  

National Planting Day is celebrated annually by Keep America Beautiful in the fall as an opportunity to encourage volunteers to plant native species restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities. Learn more about this event at www.kab.org.

26th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up

Join in on some socially distant fun!

Whitfield County and Murray County residents are invited to participate in the 26th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up event on Saturday, October 24, 2020 to help keep local waterways clean at one of seven locations.

One of the largest local volunteer events in the community the annual Conasauga River Clean-up is hosted in partnership with several local non-profits, businesses, and environmental organizations during United Way’s Make a Difference Day.

More than 10,000 pounds of garbage is typically removed during this event annually. “Volunteers that come out and participate are of all ages and walks of life so it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know other people while doing a service for your community.” Said Amelia Atwell, an event participant.

One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

This year’s event takes place concurrently from 9:00 am to noon at eight different sites across both Whitfield and Murray counties.

Be a part of the tradition by volunteering at one of the following locations:

1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road bridge
2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge
3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge/Norton Bridge
4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest
5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton
6. Lakeshore Park in the City of Dalton
7. Crown Creek in the City of Dalton
8. Conasauga River Snorkeling Hole, TN

Download the flyer with directions at http://www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org/

Sturdy shoes or boots, gloves, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts are recommended. Hip or chest waders are useful but are not required. Trash bags will be provided and at least the first 250 volunteers will receive a free neck buff and a baseball hat as a thank you for helping to clean-up our community's beautiful river and streams!

To learn more about the river cleanup call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-278-5001 or visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org to download the event flyer with directions to each site. Join and share the event on Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.

Gretchen Lugthart, a long-time organizer of the event stated, “I think we have made some progress regarding people’s attitudes toward trash in this region, but until everyone respects our beautiful streams and rivers enough to dispose of trash properly, then we will have work to do.”

Event sponsors and organizers include: Shaw Industries, Engineered Flooring, Coosa River Basin Initiative, Rivers Alive, Dalton Utilities, United Way of Northwest Georgia, Dalton State College, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Whitfield County Public Works, Conasauga River Alliance, Limestone Valley RC&D, US Forest Service, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Murray County and Whitfield County Extension, and Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful.

Morris Makeover Planned for September 26th

Spend Time Saturday Prepping For a New Dalton, GA Landmark

Join Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful for a fix-up day at the Pocket Park on Morris St. next to Eastside Cleaners. We have some BIG news for the park that we'll be announcing and we've got to get the space ready! So load up the family and get ready to clean and paint to make way for a new Dalton Landmark!

This event will meet social distancing recommendations so volunteers are REQUIRED to RSVP on the Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful Facebook event or https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040F45A8AB2CAAFC1-morris. And you must bring your own mask or face shield!

Come help paint and cleanup the Morris Pocket Park!

Volunteers will meet at the Pocket Park at 10:00 a.m. to clean up litter, restore the fountain, and paint the benches. There is no parking located at the park so volunteers will have to park elsewhere and walk to the park. Come help make way something beautiful! 

Beautification Projects Grants Announced For Local Schools

Grant Applications Now Open

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the availability of School Beautification Grants for Fall 2020. The committee for Beautification and Community Greening has established mini-grants in celebration of National Planting Day. Beautification grants may range from a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $400.

Previous Grant Winner, Dalton Middle School, poses before receiving their check.

Public and private schools in the Dalton, GA and Whitfield County area are invited to apply for funding that can help implement a project related to planting native plants. A school club, a single classroom, whole grade level or the entire school may organize a project and apply for a grant.

National Planting Day is celebrated annually by Keep America Beautiful in the fall as an opportunity to encourage volunteers to plant native species restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities. Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is making these grants available to improve the visual aspects of our community through projects that beautify and clean the environment.

Knowing that children play a very important part in making this happen we want them to reap the benefits by participating in a project for their very own school. Beautification projects could include establishing or supporting a school garden, planting flowers in an outdoor space, or using plants for educational purposes.

Grant applications must be submitted online no later than October 23rd at www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org using the form on the Beautification Grant Application page.  Previous projects can be seen on the School Beautification Projects Page. 

For questions regarding the form or any aspects of your proposed project call executive director Amy Hartline at 706-278-5001.  Grant winners will be announced on October 30, 2020.  Projects should take place in the fall and be completed no later than Tuesday, January 19, 2020. At the end, grantees will submit a short project summary that will include volunteer hours, actual costs, list of other organizations involved, evaluation of project meeting the goal/purpose intended, and before and after photos. 10% of the grant will be held by Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful until the report is submitted. Certificates of participation for students are available upon request - a list of student names must be sent in with the summary.