Author: Brit Barbier
Beginning January of this year, a group of us affiliated with the Stuller Family Foundation decided to “Embrace This Space” and dedicate a few hours each month to picking up litter on LaFlamme Rd. in Broussard. The first month was a nightmare of scattered litter from one end of the road to the other, taking 12 people more than 2 hours to clean up the seemingly endless amount of litter over the more than a mile long road. The fast-food containers were endless, beer cans, beer bottles – horrendous and WOW…the cigarette butts!
Slowly but surely, our space came around. With each passing month, we can see the improvement. This past weekend, it was the cleanest we have ever seen, as if someone(s) had shown up right before we arrived to pick up for us. Over the past 6 months, we have made an effort to reach out to some of the business owners on LaFlamme Rd, one of them – Bosco Machine Shop’s Fabrication Division – graciously allows us to use their dumpster for our pick-ups every month. The business owners on LaFlamme Rd. are taking part in and pride in the area surrounding their businesses, and it shows!
You can get your entire family involved in this movement. My family and I enjoy being a part of the solution and we enjoy the time spent together as a family, doing something that gives back to our community. We have been thanked by so many people, from waves, to honks, to businesses dropping off cold water for us to drink – shout out to HD Supply from this weekend!
Next time you’re out on a walk – take a bag, a vest, and a picker with you! It is super rewarding and it is contagious! It is a great way to exercise, not only your body but your mind and your soul. It just feels good to “do good”…and it’s working! I am no longer blind to the trash that covers our city. I can not unsee it. Let’s be Parish Proud together, and clean up this place that we all love, let’s clean up our home, together!