It’s time Indianola gave itself a nice pat on the back.
The community, young and old, has responded to the call to Keep Indianola Beautiful.
Over the last two months, the residents of the city have shown up by the dozens to help spruce up the streets, yards and ditches.
Robin Rosenthal, who spearheads this annual campaign, as part of the larger keep Mississippi Beautiful and the even larger Keep America Beautiful, said she was encouraged by what she saw last week when a large group of Gentry High School seniors were out picking up trash in the city.
She told me that people started coming out of their houses to help with the cleanup.
This kind of thing is truly contagious, and it is not something that is difficult.
Keeping the city clean is one of the easiest things we can all do.
Indianola has its fair share of challenges, and some are more difficult to combat than others, but picking up trash and making sure that our yards, sidewalks and ditches are trimmed and clean is a fairly easy task.
It’s especially easy when the entire community is involved and is willing to work together to make sure the job gets done.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal recently won Mayor of the Year from Keep Mississippi Beautiful.
Also, Rosenthal announced this week Indianola will be the recipient of the Mississippi Municipal League’s Spirit Award, in part due to the city’s beautification efforts.
It’s nice to know that for all the negative said about Indianola and Sunflower County, we are becoming known for keeping our community clean and beautiful.
Keeping the city clean year-round is going to be necessary in order to better attract young families to live in the area, and it could prove crucial when attracting businesses to the city as well.
It is a good sign to an outsider that this community cares about how it looks, and a good first impression can make all the difference.
Most of us are not qualified, nor do we possess the resources needed to fix potholes and crumbling streets, but we do have the know how to pick up pieces of trash and put them into garbage bags.
Hopefully, the 2018 Keep Indianola Beautiful campaign will be just the beginning of what the community is capable of accomplishing when it comes to keeping our town clean.
Let’s make this stick and keep this city clean all year.
If we all work together, it will not be that difficult.
