Girl Scout Gold Award Project: Art CAN Inspire

One Girl Scout Creates Beautiful Art and Conquers Litter at the Same Time.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful was so honored when Abbie Burt, a local Dalton High School Catamount senior, approached us with her idea for her Girl Scouts Gold Award project to decrease litter and beautify our town. Abbie wanted to tackle litter and create beautiful and colorful art throughout the community at the same time by wrapping trash cans with bright, colorful works of art to draw the eye to where trash is supposed to go.

This form of public art helped bring joy to the community when they passed by whether at Burr Park, Haig Mill Park, or the Mill at Crown Gardens. It’s an unexpected place for public art which is part of what sparks that happiness, but that unexpected place will help make a big difference in the community. Dalton is a watershed which means that every piece of litter you see that doesn’t get picked up ends up as marine debris. By encouraging people to engage with the trash bins, people are more likely to put trash where it goes and less likely to litter. Abbie started working on this back in November, but unfortunately with COVID-19, experienced setbacks and long periods of waiting. We think this project was worth the wait though!

Abbie shared a few words with us about how she came up with this idea, why she cares, and her success;

“I wanted to thank everyone in the community for their interest in my Art CAN Inspire project and for those who have taken the time to make sure to use the decorated cans at The Mill at Crown Gardens, Burr Park, and Haig Mill to decrease litter in our community. I care tremendously about this project because I care about my community and the well-being of this world. In today’s world, people do not know what the future holds when it comes to climate change, decreasing natural resources, and the overflow of trash in the ocean/world. Even though my project will make an unnoticeable change in the world’s statistics, it will make a noticeable change in my community. Change has to start somewhere, and something is better than nothing in terms of litter prevention. My hope is that this project served God and my country because it prevents littering and teaches people about the consequences of littering. ”

Visit Abbie at at.can.inspire on Instagram or Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful on Facebook to see all of the designs.

Volunteer Spotlight! The Cowan Law Firm

Picking up trash along a city street and then handling a business dispute? All in a day’s work at The Cowan Law Firm. Last year, the Cowan Law Firm joined up with us through our Adopt-a-Mile program. They committed to cleaning up litter and keeping an entire mile of Dalton clean throughout the year.

Each quarter they pick up supplies like trash bags, grabbers, and gloves and take to Thornton Avenue to pick up litter dropped by passersby. After a full year, the Cowan Law Firm has removed hundreds of pounds of litter from our community.

Not only are they creating a better Dalton, but they are also creating a better world. The entire city of Dalton is a watershed which means that each piece of litter not picked up makes its way into the ocean. 80% of marine litter including marine plastics is from land-based sources, just like Dalton. Because of people like the volunteers at Cowan Law Firm, we’re able to cut down on our litter sources!

Check out a snippet of their blog below;

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Love it! Don’t Trash it!

We have two things for you today: a story of success and a nod of appreciation.

The Cowan Law Firm began their day picking up litter through the Adopt-A-Mile program championed by Keep Dalton Whitfield Beautiful. As participants of this program, Rob, Brian, and Scott have committed to removing litter from both sides of Thornton Avenue between Tyler St. and Hamilton Medical Center quarterly each year.

We Heart Dalton ❤

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To finish reading their blog post about their experience adopting a mile, click here.

360 Volunteers Cleanup the Conasauga Watershed

Volunteers at the Mill Creek tributary located by the Underwood Apartments in Dalton removed 2,560 pounds of trash and debris during the annual cleanup event.

360 volunteers from Whitfield and Murray Counties participated in the 20th Annual Conasauga River Watershed Clean-up on Saturday, October 25.  The annual event took place during the United Way’s “Make a Difference Day”.  Volunteers spent the morning removing trash, debris, and invasive plants from seven sites in the two counties.  Overall, volunteers collected and removed 10,630 pounds of trash, which included 20 tires. 

Event organizers want to thank everyone who participated and contributed to the success of this year’s event.  The amount of clean-up time donated by volunteers, approximately 1,440 hours, is valued at $29,908.  Volunteers received a t-shirt and a 2015 calendar or coffee mug customized with images of the Conasauga watershed in appreciation for their participation. 

Volunteers removed 4,280 of trash from Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill during the annual Conasauga Watershed cleanup event on October 25.

Organizers want to especially thank this year’s funding sponsors: Shaw Industries, J&J Industries, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Georgia Rivers Alive, The Nature Conservancy, and the Conasauga River Alliance.  Also, they would like to recognize these additional organizations that helped coordinated the event: Carpet & Rug Institute, Conasauga River Alliance, Dalton State College, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Limestone Valley RC & D, The Nature Conservancy, and Murray County Extension.

The Conasauga River, one of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, 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.  The Conasauga Watershed Clean-up has long been a part of Rivers Alive, a statewide campaign to clean and preserve over 70,000 miles of Georgia’s rivers and streams.

Rivers Alive continues to be the state’s and one of the South’s largest volunteer efforts to beautify water resources.  So far this year, 8,900 volunteers have participated in 192 clean-up events through out the state and have removed 388,308 pounds of garbage from Georgia waterways. For more information about efforts in other areas or the statewide campaign visit www.RiversAlive.org.