Lafayette, La. - Louisiana’s largest little cleanup initiative “Love the Boot” took place this week.
Volunteers from across the parish came together Saturday morning in Lafayette for “Trash Bash.” This event focuses on beautifying the city by removing litter, planting moss near indigenous trails, and refurbishing gardens.
John Robert Marks from Young Life Lafayette spent his Saturday morning with his students cleaning the environment.
“We work with students, we want to get them involved in their community and point them to where life is found and part of that is giving back to the community,” Marks said.
Most students on prom night are spending the morning getting ready for their special day, but not Lafayette High School Student Joshua Tassin. Instead, he decided to save the planet by picking up litter before putting on his tux. “We need to protect the earth. The earth protects us by giving us shelter and I feel like we should give back to the earth,” he said.
64 parishes helped in the “Love the Boot” clean up efforts, nearly 13,000 people volunteered, 313 tons of litter were removed, and 37- trees were planted.
Lafayette dance team, Hamilton Academy Performance of the Arts, also participated in the fun. 13-year-old Jayden Ross tells KATC that he was excited to beautify the parish with his friends.
“I’m excited to come today and help pick up the trash and bring my team with us,” Ross said.
Parish Proud Development Director Sara-Mary Toce says cleaning up Lafayette goes far beyond aesthetics, it’s about making sure the Cajun culture lives on for culture generations.
“We talk a lot about our Cajun culture. We have so much pride in our heritage but sometimes the pride in our culture doesn’t translate to the pride that we take in caring for our community. So, what we want to do is we want to make our community as vibrant as our culture,” Toce said.
For more information on Parish Proud, go to https://parishproud.org
