Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful are looking for volunteers to help create Flora’s first park, clean up litter and make other community improvements on May 19. The Great American Cleanup State Kickoff event is part of the nation’s largest community improvement program, taking place in some 20,000 communities nationwide.

“We hope you can join us for a day of giving back,” Keep Mississippi Beautiful Executive Director Sarah Kountouris said. “Our Great American Cleanup State Kickoff is one of our signature events each year, and we’re inspired by the volunteers who come to clean and green our state and truly keep Mississippi beautiful!”

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and closes with an appreciation lunch for volunteers. The event begins at the gazebo on the Veteran’s Memorial located on Main Street. Volunteers can sign up and learn more here: www.keepflorabeautiful.eventbrite.com.

Most of the work will focus on the new Elise G. Anderson Walking Park, which will be the town’s first public recreation space. Volunteers will plant trees, shrubs and flowers, help install the park’s benches and picnic tables, and clean up litter.

Flora citizen John Anderson donated the land, and the park will be named in honor of his grandmother, Elise G. Anderson. The property boasts century-old pecan trees, and it will have a new walking trail and playground equipment.

“We are so excited to host this year’s Great American Cleanup State Kickoff,” said Nicole Kitchens, affiliate director for Keep Flora Beautiful. “This new park will be an asset in our town, and I’m grateful to the Anderson family, our volunteers, Keep Mississippi Beautiful, the town of Flora and our many other partners who are making this project a reality.”

Affiliates of Keep America Beautiful, including Keep Mississippi Beautiful and Keep Flora Beautiful, rally together millions of volunteers each year through the Great American Cleanup. Learn more about the Great American Cleanup: https://www.kab.org/our-programs/great-american-cleanup.