It gets hot early this time of year so they’re already out on the street by 5 a.m.
With their big hats to protect them from the sun, gloves to protect their hands and a cart to help carry the load, the trio begins making their way through the neighborhood while some residents are still in bed.
There’s a lot of complaining in Yazoo City these days about litter.
Residents and business owners complain about waking up to a mess. Elected officials plead with the public to stop throwing trash all over town. People are mad about it, and they have every right to be. It’s hard to find a small town with more litter than Yazoo.
But Alfreda Woodall, Queen Woolfolk and Zellee Delaware have never been into complaining. They want to be part of the solution.
And so the three ladies meet early every Friday morning and begin cleaning up their neighborhood. They remove trash on Ninth Street between Lamar and Prentiss. Then they go down Eighth street to Martin Luther King Drive to the bridge, and from there they move down MLK to Seventh Street over to Lamar back up to Ninth Street and down Lee Street and every street and alley in that area.
They even get down in the ditches and clear them of debris.
By the time they’re done, the cart is filled with beer bottles, fast food bags and all sorts of nasty stuff.
Their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. People are starting to cheer them on.
“We’ve had people bring us something cold to drink and thank us for what we’re doing,” Zellee Delaware said.
“People are definitely noticing” Woolfolk said. “Some have even offered to help.”
Mayor Diane Delaware said she is encouraged to see residents working to improve the community – even if it’s work they shouldn’t have to do. Residents, particularly adults, should know better than to litter. Delaware said the problem is made worse by the fact that city garbage collection employees don’t always do a good job of cleaning up rubbish that falls to the ground when garbage cans are emptied.
“They do the work that should be done by Public Works,” Delaware said.
Mayor Delaware said this is a perfect example of everyday people doing their part to improve their community.
“One of them said they hear people talking about taking their country back.,” she said. Well this is the way to take your neighborhood back. As citizens we have to make it known by example that our neighborhood belongs to us and we are willing to keep it free of litter. If we see you we will take your picture, get your license plate and if necessary put up cameras that will see you throwing trash on our streets. But mostly we hope that you will be proud and help us keep our and your neighborhood clean, free of litter and safe.”
The city hopes to build on this volunteer effort by purchasing carts and other cleanup materials that residents can borrow to use to clean up their neighborhoods. A Keep Yazoo City Beautiful chapter was also recently established, and that group will be announcing initiatives soon.
