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.

Hundreds of Christmas Trees Recycled in Dalton and Whitfield

Hundreds of Christmas Trees Recycled in Dalton and Whitfield

Dalton and Whitfield County residents started 2020 off right by recycling natural Christmas trees and electronics. Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s Annual Bring One for the Chipper Event was held on January 4th, 2020 at Home Depot on 875 Shugart Road and though the weather started off cold and rainy at the event it did not deter residents from doing the right thing.  

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful volunteers, Whitfield County Public Works, and Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority (DWSWA) employees were on site to collect natural trees and electronics for recycling. After recycling, participants were able to grab a free seedling or vegetable seed packets.

Exactly 100 trees were recycled at the event and 3,243 pounds of electronics were recycled at the event. After the event, Dalton Public Works and DWSWA continued to collect trees for recycling for free and collected an extra 201 trees for recycling.

The mulch from these trees will be used for beautification across the county throughout the year.

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful wants to thank all of the residents that participated in the event and took the extra time to recycle.

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, visit Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful online: http://www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org

Seedling and Seed Giveaway!

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful and the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority hosting a Tree Seedling and Vegetable Seed Giveaway on Monday, January 20th at the Mack Gaston Community Center in Dalton from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. There are limited quantities of Willow Oak and a few Dogwood seedlings available. These types of tree are native to Georgia, helping to provide vital habitat for birds and other species of wildlife, and enhance the beauty of our community. There are multiple types of vegetables seeds to choose from to plant for this year.

There is a limit of 2 seedlings per family. Please allow for up to 40 feet of space per tree when planting. This event is made possible by a grant from the Georgia Forestry Association and Keep Georgia Beautiful.

For more information call 706-278-5001 or find us on Facebook.

2019 National Planting Day Grant Recipients

(Dalton, GA, October 18, 2019) – Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the winners of the fifth annual School Beautification Grants for 2019. The committee for Beautification and Community Greening established the grant program in celebration of National Planting Day, which took place September 7 and is celebrated through the end of November.

Public and private schools in the 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 $500.

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

1.   Southeast Whitfield High School - Picnic for Pollinators

2. Brookwood Elementary - 100% Pollinator Native Garden

3. New Hope Middle School - Certified Wildlife Habitat Garden

Projects will be completed by December 2 and each recipient will submit a project summary by December 27 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.