Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful to plant trees, alter ‘Chipper’ event

Some neighborhood streets are tidier just in time for Halloween after volunteer cleanups this past weekend.

Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful helped coordinate tidying efforts Oct. 18. Mount de Sales Academy students spruced up Pleasant Hill with a Cavalier Cleanup near the Booker T. Washington Center, St. James AME Church Pastor Johnnie Cook’s Lots of Love volunteers cleaned up around L.H. Williams Elementary and members of Mercer University’s Zeta Phi Beta chapter had a litter pickup Saturday around Ingram Pye Elementary. 

Additionally, on Oct. 25 in Fort Hill, KMBB, Community Schools United and Burdell-Hunt Elementary are partnering for the “Treat the Streets” cleanup. The volunteer effort will begin at 9 a.m. at the school at 972 Fort Hill St. and end with lunch.

In the final months of the year, KMBB will spearhead tree plantings across the community and provide free trees for the public.

KMBB Executive Director Asha Ellen told board members Oct. 16 that they have more than $22,000 remaining from an anonymous donor for them to plant trees.

They are currently working to identify public sites for the plantings, Ellen said. 

The beautification organization also will continue planting pink-flowering shrubs and trees along the Cherry Blossom Trail through grants from the Fickling Family Foundation. 

The public can plant their own free trees through Georgia’s ReLeaf Grant Program. 

KMBB is partnering with Keep Warner Robins Beautiful for this year’s program, Ellen said.

They will be giving away about 300 trees on Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Rosa Jackson Recreation Center at 1211 Maynard St. 

For the annual essay competition for school students, KMBB’s Education Committee will award prizes on Nov. 6 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre.

Education Chair Janice Habersham said they received 60 entries this year from Bibb County schools.

The upcoming “Bring One for the Chipper” Christmas tree recycling campaign is also making some big changes this season.

During her director’s report, Ellen explained that participation dwindled over the years as KMBB traditionally collected undecorated live trees on the first Saturday in January.

Two of KMBB’s main volunteer organizations also are no longer available to assist with the single-day drop-off. 

Whether it’s because more people are using artificial trees, or the event has been held too early for those who leave trees up longer, they decided to extend the campaign for about a month. 

Macon-Bibb County’s convenience center on 11th Street is expected to be a drop-off location for people to deposit Christmas trees from Dec. 26 until near the end of January. 

Once the trees are collected, KMBB plans to coordinate again with Georgia Power to chip them into mulch to be distributed throughout the community. 

Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom.