Giving Love to Where You Live

Members of the historic Thomas Square Neighborhood Association are banding together March 27 to help keep their community beautiful and litter-free while still managing to have a little fun.

The Great Savannah Community Cleanup is a city-wide day where Savannah residents, along with over 70 neighborhood associations, businesses, and community organizations, come together to help clean up the city.

Organizations and neighborhoods throughout town are invited to partner with Keep Savannah Beautiful and the City of Savannah’s Sanitation Department for a litter pickup, beautification project or cleanup event and Thomas Square is leading the charge. Volunteers are invited to start the day off with coffee and bagels at Big Bon Bodega before heading to Thomas Square Park for the cleanup event and litter scavenger hunt. Prizes will be given out to the top three finders.

This day of community improvement is a part of a larger program for the city. “It’s a community wide initiative and part of our annual Great Savannah Cleanup initiative which usually runs from March to June every year, where we ask everyone to engage in some type of clean-up project or beautification project as we kick off spring,” said Carliss Bates, Education and Outreach coordinator for the City of Savannah’s Sanitation Department and executive director of Keep Savannah Beautiful. “We ask all of our community partners – whether its citizens, local civic organizations, faith-based organizations, businesses – we ask everyone to just think about loving where you live or doing something beautiful ... by conducting a cleanup or planting some flowers as we work toward trying to keep our community clean of litter and trash.”

The Thomas Square Neighborhood Association and Keep Savannah Beautiful asks all volunteers to practice social distancing during the event and will be providing bandana face coverings, water, gloves, grabbers, bags and hand sanitizer.

“We can get together and do good work in a way that is responsible, both for our health and the good of our community,” said Hallie Mobley Anderegg, a Keep Savannah Beautiful board member. “Every year, we have a few more volunteers, a few more events, and a lot of fun getting a little dirty and making a difference.”

Once all the litter and trash collections are returned to the square, volunteers can reward their hard work with drinks and food trucks at a neighborhood meetup at Starland Yard. All Thomas Square volunteers can receive 50% off their first drink by showing their provided bandana face covering.

Keep Savannah Beautiful, a City of Savannah board and local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, has been committed to motivating and inspiring Savannahians to take everyday action to help enhance and beautify the community environment since 1979. Bates says the ultimate goal of the cleanup is, “to engage people in the community to help us all come together for a common cause, which is litter prevention and beautification.”

The Great Savannah Cleanup will take place Saturday at Thomas Square Park. Volunteers can join from 9-11:30 a.m. All trash must be returned back to the park by 12:30 p.m. Coffee and bagels at Big Bon Bodega from 9-10:30 a.m. Register under Thomas Square Association at savannahga.gov/greatsavannahcleanup.