ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF News) – “The Mission Continues” organizations is in need of volunteers to help clean up Fish Creek, which cuts through Arlington and Grand Prairie for eight miles before flowing into the Trinity River.
U.S. Marine Corps veteran and TMC member Angel Carter said because the creek is a storm drainage for both cities, it collects tons of trash from the area which eventually ends in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Anything that we don’t get here it will continue to be pushed downstream. There were decades of debris where it would flow down pileup and there are some places where we have got those decades of debris up…8 1/2 tons,” she said.
Carter started the cleanup in 2019 and said she hadn’t anticipated that it would become an annual event.
“I have since learned that even in places we’ve cleaned as long as that stuff keeps washing down we are going to have an annual cleanup…maybe not something as big as we’re hoping to have for this year and next year,” she said.
Volunteers range in age from kids to the elderly and are asked to wear long-sleeved shirts, closed-toe shoes, jackets and any preferred tools although supplies will be provided.
“We’ll have everything you need. Bags, we have gloves, we have hand sanitizers, we have the Webb Masonic Lodge that will be out there with snacks and coffee. We just need people to bring themselves,” said Carter.
Lunch will be provided who those register online before the event.
Carter stressed this year’s event is unlike the ones in year’s past. The 2022 cleanup is part of a Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Day of Service project backed by the Travis Manion Foundation and TMC.
It’s also in honor of a local hero.
“We’re also honoring Officer Castaneda Jr. He was a Grand Prairie officer and also a veteran who had worked with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. It means a lot to many of us to come out there personally and be a part of that. We’re not just beautifiying the community. We’re honoring the life and legacy of two great people,” said Carter.
The cleanup is Saturday from 8 am to 1 pm. Volunteers are meeting at 2121 Havenwood Drive in Arlington.
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