After all the fireworks are done going off after the fourth of July there can be a big mess to clean up. One local non-profit is hoping to help take care of that mess. Saturday afternoon in Dundee was all about giving back.
It was just one of the events that Keep Omaha Beautiful puts on every month and 15 volunteers rolled up their sleeves.
"They're literally just walking the streets throughout the Dundee neighborhood collecting any litter that they see along the way,” said Alyssa Cody, volunteer and communications coordinator for Keep Omaha Beautiful.
However Saturday, volunteers were focusing on picking up a specific type of litter.
"Fireworks litter is one of the most toxic kinds of pollutants that we deal with so we really wanna make sure that we collect as much of that litter as we can before it makes its way into the storm drains and pollutes our water systems,” said Cody.
This was the first year Keep Omaha Beautiful held this firework cleanup event. The group partnered with a local Dundee store Scout. Organizers say Dundee seems like a good place to start.
"While fireworks litter will be affecting neighborhoods across the city we decided to kind of move to a central location for this clean up event and hope that it inspires other neighborhoods around the city to do cleanups in their own neighborhoods as well,” said Cody.
Organizers say inspiring people to do little things to give back is a big part of why they wanted to start holding community events like this one.
"While monthly or bi-monthly events don't make a huge difference, I believe that people seeing neighbors out serving their community and doing simple tasks to give back really makes a big difference,” said Cody.
Keep Omaha Beautiful holds community cleanup events in different neighborhoods around town at least once a month and they say anyone is welcome to volunteer. To find out how to get involved click here.
