Keep the Rez Beautiful, Americorps Team Up for Nature Area Planting

Mar 17, 2017 5:30 PM ET

Keep America Beautiful Affiliate Stories

More than 40 dedicated AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) volunteers from the Vicksburg, Mississippi, Southern Region Campus assisted Keep The Reservoir Beautiful (KRB) volunteers Bob Stribling and Jerry Palmer in a Great American Cleanup beautification project around the Brandon Reservoir area.

The NCCC volunteers came out in the chilly spring weather to plant 40 trees, 300 daylilies and 100 daffodils in the Turtle Point Nature Area and Timberlake Campground. Another team shoveled a ton of mulch around the playground equipment in Lakeshore Park, while another group of volunteers weeded three 50-foot wildflower beds in Pelahatchie Shore Park – all in Pearl River Valley Water Supply District parks around the Ross Barnett Reservoir. The trees were donated through a Keep America Beautiful/UPS Community Tree Planting Grant, while the daylilies and daffodils were donated through Keep Mississippi Beautiful.

“I personally believe in the value of NCCC,” said Jeannine May, executive director of Keep The Rez Beautiful. “Years ago, when I worked for the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, we had an NCCC team that helped build boardwalks for cabins at the Mississippi State Hospital. They worked hard for weeks in the cold December weather and did an outstanding job!”

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