Even the smallest act can help beautify a town.
Dozens of volunteers spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up downtown Alma during the annual Keep Alma Beautiful spring cleanup event where raking leaves, bush trimming, weeding and more took place downtown, at the riverwalk and at city parks.
“We just want to work as a community to make our town welcoming for people that live here and show pride in our town,” said Michelle Pitts, Alma resident and Keep Alma Beautiful volunteer.
She and others spent their time cleaning up the outside of the city’s public library.
“We just go and clean up the town so it looks nice,” Pitts said.
Students from local schools helped clean up the parks, she said.
For example, students from Hillcrest Elementary School cleaned up Riverside Park and students from St. Mary’s Catholic School cleaned up Wright Avenue Park.
Alma residents Bart and Brittany Stoneman volunteered to clean up around the Alma College sign at the corner of Wright Avenue and Superior Street, which is near where they have lived in the city for about three years.
“It’s kind of like taking care of your own lawn,” Bart Stoneman said.
They raked leaves and did plant trimming and weeding.
A few years ago, they volunteered for the cleanup project as well to plant flowers, Stoneman said.
In addition, people who could not attend Saturday did cleanup work in the days before the cleanup event, Pitts said.