Event to help beautify communities

Kern County Public Works is encouraging Kern County residents to recognize Earth Day by participating in the Great American Clean Up, with a number of clean-up events taking place throughout the county on Saturday, April 23.

Among the events is a Community Clean Up event taking place in Shafter, from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Residents are encouraged to start from your house,and pick up trash in your neighborhood, gathering the litter as you make your way to the Tin Cup, where everyone is to meet at 10:30 a.m.

If you are interested in making a difference in your community, you can contact the point person for the Shafter event, Lynnda Martin, at lynnda@americanrefuse.co.

The partnering organization for the Shafter event is the Shafter Woman's Club.

The Great American Clean-Up began in 1998 and is celebrating its 24th year of working to keeping America beautiful.

KKB encourages volunteers to share your cleanup efforts with us by taking pictures of your work and impact with them on social media outlets.

Share your photos on Facebook by tagging @KernCountyPublicWorks and include hashtag #KeepKernBeautiful in the post.

The mission of Keep Kern Beautiful is to protect and beautify our natural environment by means of community engagement, education and empowerment. KKB was created for the purpose of educating the community about littering behavior, control and prevention, waste handling and beautification projects, while creating a healthy, safe and enhanced community environment for all residents to enjoy. For more information about KKB, visit kernpublicworks.com/education/keep-kern-beautiful/.

The Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup is one of the largest community service events in the nation. GAC takes place nationwide during the spring season. Thousands of Keep Bakersfield Beautifulvolunteers take part in April. KBB needs local sponsors to help support this community service project. Monetary and in-kind sponsorships are tax-deductible.