Friendswood encompasses 21 square miles and is nestled between Houston and the Gulf Coast. Friendswood has grown from a small, close-knit Quaker community into a city with over 40,000 residents. Yet, after 125 years, Friendswood has maintained the charm and volunteer spirit of a small Texas town. Friendswood’s anchor is Stevenson Park with rolling green lawns, a large white gazebo, walking trails, and giant oak trees, which shade the center of town on the sunniest days.
The community of Friendswood has one thing in common; we all want our town to be clean and beautiful. People of all ages join in this goal year-round in helping keep our community clean with volunteering at Adopt a Highway Cleanups, City Wide cleanups like Keep Friendswood Beautiful’s Spring Sparkle, Stevenson Park Adopt a Spot and Friendswood High School Recycle Club, which consist of 50+ high school students meet weekly to sort and separate recyclables from the cafeteria and classrooms.
The spring kicks off cleanups for Keep Friendswood Beautiful, with several events planned to start in March.
Park cleanups
Cleanups for our community are for all ages, the youngest cleanup in the city’s history is our Pre-K and Kindergarten cleanup in Stevenson Park. This group will be picking up trash around the playground and the pavilions in the park using Don’t Mess with Texas trash bags. We are so excited to see parents teach their children at such a young age to volunteer and keep their community clean.
Adopt a Highway Cleanups
Keep Friendswood Beautiful adopted a 2-mile segment last year and schedules cleanups quarterly. KFB along with volunteers enjoy keeping our community clean but noticed the amount of trash that was along the highways, which sparked a litter survey. Results came in on programs that have the biggest impact on keeping Friendswood litter free and 39% of residents that answered the survey said it was the Adopt Highway cleanups and 71% of residents reported the number one impact on Keeping Friendswood litter-free is our annual clean up event which leads up to Spring Sparkle!
Spring Sparkle, April 11th at Centennial Park
Keep Friendswood Beautiful and the City of Friendswood annual citywide cleanup involves so many organizations with one common goal, to Keep Friendswood Beautiful. Residents can drive through the park and drop off items at several different areas. This event offers residents to clean up their homes and dispose of trash and unwanted items safely and for reuse.
- Waste Connections collects heavy trash, old appliances, and furniture, wood, metal and green waste.
- Simple Recycling accepts gently used clothing, shoes, household items and bedding.
- E-Recycling
- Shredding Services
- Wildlife Rehabilitation accepting aquariums, dog and cat carriers, clean rags and shallow crock bowls.
- Freon removal-drop off appliances that no longer work and a local air conditioning company, Star Services removes Freon so the appliance can be safely disposed.
- Garage Sale – Keep Friendswood Beautiful accept garage sale items, all proceeds from the sale go toward the maintenance of the pollinator garden in Stevenson Park. #reuse
Keep Friendswood Beautiful mission is to enhance the aesthetic appearance of Friendswood and encourage residents to take an active role in maintaining that appearance and we believe are doing just that as we clean our parks, highways, and community with the help of volunteers that share KFB’s goal in Keeping Friendswood Beautiful!
Other programs on KFB’s calendar are:
Keep Friendswood Beautiful #friendswoodproud Photo Contest, April 20th
Keep Friendswood Beautiful Fairy Trail Ribbon Cutting, June 5th, in Stevenson Park with grants from the HEB Green Bag Grant and HEB Tournament of Champions, KFB will be opening a Fairy Trail in Stevenson Park featuring 15 custom-made fairy houses with an environmental theme.The ribbon-cutting with be at 6 pm right before Keep Friendswood Beautiful’ s School’s Out for Summer concert featuring Vocal Trash and the announcement of the winners of the #friendswoodproud photo contest.
For more information on Keep Friendswood Beautiful, cleanups and events check out of Facebook page or Instagram.
Blog Post Written by Kimberly Ramirez, KFB Coordinator.
