Shane Hancock, Daniel Chambers, Robert Harris, Robert Arends, Harris Youngblood and
Max Piper at the June Spruce Up
Boy Scouts from Lake Highlands Troop 890 will be participating in the Second Saturday Shoreline Spruce Up this weekend, their regular monthly gig.
“My favorite thing about cleaning up White Rock Lake is helping the environment and using the long net to get trash out of the water,” said 12-year-old Austin Anderson, a rising 7th grader at LHJH. “My least favorite think is waking up at the crack of dawn,” he joked.
“Runners say ‘thank you’ and ‘good job’ and ‘we appreciate what you guys are doing,’ said Austin, son of Brian and Erin Anderson and grandson of former Dallas City Councilman Bill Blaydes. “My family and I like riding our bikes around the lake, so we have a responsibility to help take care of it.”
Travis West, one of the scouts responsible for organizing the event, agrees.
“It gives me a good reason to get out to the lake even when my schedule is busy,” the 16-year-old LHHS junior told me. “This project helps out the lake and the community, and we find lots of cool things like fish, turtles, balls, trash cans – you name it. One time we saw a mother duck with her tiny baby ducklings swimming around. That was pretty neat.”
“We usually have lots of scouts participating, depending on what other school activities are going on at the time,” said Travis. “This is a great opportunity for people to help, even if they don’t think they have a lot of free time.”
Think you might like to pitch in? This week, extra hands are needed. A flash storm last Friday brought down tree limbs all around the lake.
The Spruce Up event is hosted by For The Love Of The Lake (FTLOTL), with lots of other groups participating. Registration is from 8-9 a.m. and cleanup lasts 2 hours, rain or shine. You can meet up with the others at the FTLOTL office in Casa Linda Plaza, where you’ll find a yummy continental breakfast provided by the folks at Starbuck’s Coffee, Nothing Bundt Cakes and Another Broken Egg Café. All of your supplies, things like latex gloves and trash bags, are also provided.
If you’d like to support the Boy Scouts, they meet at 9 a.m. in the parking lot on the north side of Williamson Branch Creek (3669 W. Lawther).
Brian Humphries, Brody Humphries, Debbie Overby, Peter Overby, Kim West, Erin Anderson, Austin Anderson and Shane Hancock
