BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS, Mo. – The City of Moline Acres joined the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors for a “City 2 City”-wide community clean-up event.  

Volunteers spent part of their Saturday morning picking up trash.  

“This is the first time that we reached out to municipalities surrounding us to see if they would clean up on the same day that we do,” Earlyn Gordon said. “We see a whole lot of people out volunteering and cleaning up. This is the first time that we are joining forces.” 

Gordon is the chairperson of the Bellefontaine Neighbors Image & Beautification Commission. She says around 20 volunteers showed up to help Saturday morning. They hit the main stretches of the city first. 

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “I’ve been doing it for 10 years. This is the first year that I’m the chairperson. I’m thankful for everyone that volunteered, thankful for all the people that has been doing this so long. It means the world to me because I want to keep our city shiny, clean and a nice place to live.”  

FOX 2 caught up with some volunteers picking up trash along Jennings Station Road off Astoria Drive. They expected to have dozens of trash bags filled by the time the event was over. Their goal is to inspire people not to litter in the first place.  

“It’s a little disheartening,” volunteer Shannon Williams said. “I would just encourage everybody to pick up their trash, wait till you get to a trashcan [and] don’t just throw it out your car window. Just do the best that you can to keep our area clean.” 

Williams, 21, encourages other young people to get involved in community clean-up events too.  

“Everybody wants to live in a clean environment,” she said. “It feels good to see your area getting cleaned up.” 

The Image & Beautification Commission holds two of these events each year. The next one will happen in September, and they always need people to help.  

“We feed them afterward,” Gordon said. “It’s just a good community effort to keep our city clean.”