Head Start kids, volunteers participate in clean-up

link QCS Photo: Steve Hansen.

With help from Jeanine Apodaca, left, and Tracy Neal, teachers at Eastern Plains Head Start, Tucumcari, Head Start students Isabella Salas, left, Jonathan Montoya and Jude Rosas plant flowers at Tucumcari City Hall.

QCS Staff

Pre-kindergarten students at the Eastern Plains Head Start facility in Tucumcari and a hardy band of older volunteers helped Tucumcari observe the Great American Cleanup last week.

Veronica Sandy, Tucumcari’s building enforcement officer, doubled up as a beautification coordinator to coordinate the cleanup activities.

During the week, batches of Head Start children arrived at Tucumcari City Hall, where they gathered in front of the flower pots that line the walkway to the main door to plant flowers, with lots of help and guidance from teachers and parents. One of the flowers was actually a New Mexico pepper plant provided by Mayor Robert Lumpkin.

On Saturday, a small group of volunteers gathered at a lot just east of Kmart, at U.S. 54 Historic Route 66 Boulevard, and braved high winds to pick up paper and plastic foam trash that had snared on tall grass and bushes.

Sandy said their activities were paid for with funds from a grant from New Mexico Clean and Beautiful, a division of the New Mexico Dept. of Tourism. The Clean and Beautiful operation works in cooperation with the Great American Cleanup, sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, a nonprofit network of more than 1,200 organizations, including state recycling organizations, that works with volunteers on activities designed to build and sustain communities, according to Keep America Beautiful’s website.