Volunteers from all over Starkville and surrounding areas will help to clean the outdoor areas of the city August 31 during the annual ‘Get Swept Up’ event. 

Every fall, volunteers help make Starkville clean before the first Mississippi State football game of the season. 

Jennifer Prather, special events and projects coordinator at Greater Starkville Development Partnership, said this event started 13 years ago. 

“This event was dreamt up by a community member, Libby Gerald who had been involved in something similar in her previous home in a different state,” Prather said. 

This year, more than 430 volunteers have signed up to help clean the community. 

According to the Greater Starkville Development Partnership website, volunteers are given all the supplies they need for the clean up process. Volunteers also receive a free T-shirt and bottled water to help them stay hydrated. 

Volunteers help pick up trash, but they also pull weeds, trim plants and do whatever else it takes to make Starkville look nice. 

According to the Volunteer Starkville website, volunteers can go to the Greater Starkville Development Partnership office to get the supplies. 

Teams are able to choose when they want to clean up their assigned area, but it is required that clean up be done that day. It is recommended that clean up be done by 2 or 3 p.m.

Prather said teams of volunteers are assigned to different areas of town. 

“Many of our teams sign up together, and we assign them to an area that is based on the size of their group,” Prather said. “However, often times we have small groups or individuals who just want to get involved on their own, so we pair them with other people prior to assigning them to an area. You don’t have to have a big group to participate in this event.”

Prather said the Greater Starkville Development Partnership is lucky to have the support of several organizations to make this event possible. 

“Obviously our sponsors,” Prather said, “but also we work with our local hospital, OCH Regional Medical Center, to supply gloves for clean up, Keep MS Beautiful for bags, and the City of Starkville and Oktibbeha County are both extremely supportive to this event by collecting the trash for us at the conclusion of the event and assisting with some of the high traffic areas that we don’t feel comfortable having volunteers on, like major highways.”

The focus is to clean up the high traffic and high visibility areas. Most areas in Starkville are covered during the clean up, along with some outer areas.