Keep Houston Beautiful celebrated the 30th anniversary of Keep Houston Beautiful Day on April 8.

The event kicked off Keep Houston Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, which coincided with the Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-off.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner joined the volunteers at M.C. Williams Middle School to kick off the Keep Houston Beautiful Day festivities and thank the students who turned out to lend a hand.

Three thousand volunteers worked at 30 cleanup sites across Houston, clearing trash from parks and neighborhoods and planting new trees and flowers. They cleared an impressive 30,000 pounds of trash from different neighborhoods and communities.

More than 200 volunteers from Mormon churches in the Houston area painted, cut and created “flowers” out of used water bottles. The flowers are part of local artist Carol Simon’s  “First Ward is Blooming” project. Carol’s art creatively uses recycled plastic bottles to beautify the neighborhood and grow community spirit around the arts.

Keep Houston Beautiful is always looking for volunteers to help out and has a number of volunteer opportunities coming up. Register on its site!

(From Left: Zanovia Gatson, S.T.E.M. Teacher, M.C. Williams Middle School S.T.E.M. Academy; Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; and Keep Houston Beautiful Executive Robin Blut. Photos by Razi Asaduddin)