Spring is in the air, and local residents and students alike are taking the opportunity to do a little seasonal cleaning.
On Friday, the entire student body of Mitchell Christian School pitched in to clear over 40 miles of trash and debris from in and around town.
Students, teachers and even parents teamed up to fill multiple 55-gallon garbage bags for the school's annual Clean-a-Thon fundraiser, which rakes in donations from sponsors based on the number of miles covered -- and cleaned -- throughout the morning. Mitchell Christian's fundraising goal for the event is $25,000.
The Clean-a-Thon precedes the city's annual special curbside collection, a week for Mitchell residents to drop old furniture and appliances curbside for city workers to collect.
The cleanup -- which will run Monday through Friday -- also extends city landfill drop-off hours for residents, including Saturday hours on April 18 and April 25.
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"The biggest thing is we won't pick up anything other than appliances and furniture," said Ron Olson, the city's street and sanitation superintendent.
The cleanup is one of the biggest pushes for Mitchell's City Beautification Committee, a group of 14 that meets monthly to prioritize plans for city improvement -- often simple maintenance, like tending flower beds, trash cans and city entrance signs.
This spring, the committee is looking for new projects, as well as volunteers to help with some of its annual tried-and-true efforts. According to committee chairman Jim Wold, both volunteers and ideas to beautify Mitchell are welcome.
"We want people to really look around when they drive to work and travel through town and ask themselves, 'What can we do to make Mitchell a cleaner, better place to live?' " Wold said. "We're looking for some sort of tool to get the community involved."
Today through next Saturday, drop-offs at the city landfill at 41176 257th St. will be free to the public, and the city will remove furniture and appliances from curbs on residents' regular garbage collection day.
Televisions, computer monitors, cell phones and other electronic items can be recycled at Dependable Sanitation, located at the old landfill, 2801 E. Havens St., for a small fee.
The City Beautification Committee's next big push is May 9, when seeds of promise will be scattered throughout Mitchell in the form of a few hundred trees.
On that Saturday morning, volunteers will meet at Hitchcock Park to stock up on seedlings before scattering around town. Much of the planting will be concentrated around Lake Mitchell and the new soccer fields. The event wraps up with lunch.
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Anyone interested in volunteering time, labor or ideas to city beautification efforts may contact the Mitchell Chamber of Chamber.
