Plains looking sharp after cleanup day

May 22—A cool crisp windy morning greeted volunteers, assembling for the Plains Beautification Day 2024.

Duty assignments for volunteers were posted, ready for beautification day committee member Scott Johnson, to hand out once volunteers arrive.

The number of volunteers increased, eventually totaling 36. Twenty of that number were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which included the youngest member of the volunteers, seven-year-old Colton Barton.

Volunteer Rhonda Leeper said, "I am a youth leader for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we came to help out our community. I think it (Beautification Day) is a great idea to help the community and a very Christian thing to do, to serve your neighbor." Committee member Garrett Boon said, "I was pleasantly surprised. Way more people showed up than we thought. It's more about getting people working together."

Plains Beautification Day has become a valley wide effort, bringing donations from Sanders County who supplied a dumpster and free access to the solid waste facility, which took in old appliances, yard waste and metal scraps.

Neal Proctor and Chris Schrock provided two Bobcat tractors for the day. The lunch was provided by 406 Chuck Wagon owners Henry and Laura Raber with community members supplying food items. McGowan's provided hotdogs and buns. The Clark Fork Valley Hospital provided bottled water. Studd's donated gloves and loaned out weed eaters and trash bags.

Homes around town were mowed, trimmed and weeded. Trees trimmed, lawn debris removed, old appliances removed, and garbage collected. Discarded tires were collected and sent to Baldy Tires to be recycled at a discounted price for the town.

The day's oldest volunteer was veteran Bill Beck at the youthful age of 83, who operated a weed eater at many of the projects. City employee Bruce Newton was on hand to operate the town loader throughout the day. Pickup trucks and trailers, donated by many of the volunteers, carried their loads back to Newton who loaded debris into dumpsters.

Volunteer Anitia Marsh said, "I think it's really wonderful to see young men and women in the community contributing to their community. It's good for the community members to see young people in that way. I think so often we get critical of young men and women. There are really a lot of them that are really good kids out here trying to help. When we talk about beautification days, the beauty is in the people and how they help one another."

Lana Dicken and Caleb Lakko load a trailer supplied by Greg and Kathy McGath. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)

Bill Beck clears weeds with Scott Johnson and Lylan Bostick. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)

Old tires were collected by Lana Dicken, Scott Dicken and Garrett Boon. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)

Resident Susan Momk talks with Scott Johnson and Kylan Bostick. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)

Plains employee Bruce Newton loads items into a dumpster. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)

Scott Johnson hands out assignments at Plains Beautification Day. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)