Keep Flower Mound Beautiful’s Marilyn Lawson is Locking Horns with Litter

“People will say our town has no trash in it,” said Marilyn Lawson. “But it does. Most people just don’t see it.”

That apparent lack of trash is due largely to the unwavering dedication and efforts of Keep Flower Mound Beautiful, the local non-profit led by a nine-member Board that includes Marilyn Lawson.

KFMB hosts two semi-annual, all-town Trash Offs (see the sidebar about the April 27 event) and monthly cleanups of pre-determined locations on the third Saturday. These are come-as-you-please, with no registration. “It’s really growing,” Marilyn said. “We usually have about 20, but sometimes as many as 60 people show up.” 

These cleanups are popular with service organizations, including the Young Men’s Service League, National Honor Society, and ROTC high school students. 

“I think it’s just a feeling of doing good,” Marilyn said. “We have to get outside and get into the parks. Whether you pick up one piece of trash or 100 pieces, you’ve made a difference.”

Keep Flower Mound Beautiful began in 2003 as a program of the town of Flower Mound. In 2005, it registered as a non-profit while remaining part of the town, and the town council assigned
the board. They separated in 2008, although the town still gives KFMB some financial support.

The two still work together, with KFMB administering the town’s Adopt-A-Spot program. A business, organization, group, or family can choose a spot in town and take responsibility for its appearance. “Usually if it’s a roadway, it will be for a mile,” Marilyn said. “If it’s a park, it will be most of it, although at Heritage Park we have three adopters.” 

After the first documented area cleanup, Flower Mound will put up a sign at the location honoring those who have adopted the spot. The group must maintain it at least six times a year and document hours. 

“We have over 60 Adopt-A-Spot locations,” Marilyn said. “It’s a very active program.” 

KFMB also oversees those seeking community service hours. “There’s usually someone out every day, somewhere,” Marilyn said. “Last year, we logged over 2,500 hours of community service, and we get a couple of calls daily about the program.” KFMB.org gives directions on the steps you need to follow to receive the service hours.

Lend A Hand is another KFMB project. Originally the idea of Flower Mound Mayor Thomas Hayden, the program helps disabled or elderly residents fix things outside their homes that they can’t do or afford on their own, such as cleanups, fencing, or siding. 

“They might get a code violation,” Marilyn said. “And we work with Code Enforcement.” All work is done by volunteers with donations, and to date, they’ve completed over 88 projects — one of which took over three years to finish. “I enjoy working with the town. The staff in the parks and code enforcement are great.” 

In addition to keeping our town beautiful, KFMB’s work also has an environmental impact, for which Marilyn has passion. “We’re taking care of our environment. Garbage gets into the water, and plastic never goes away. It breaks down into microbeads, fish eat the microbeads, and we eat the fish.”

You can find ways to volunteer with KFMB or support them financially on their website at KFMB.org, or follow them on social media. 

2024 Spring Trash-Off

Join KFMB on April 27 to clean up the town! It’s simple — pre-register and pick a location to clean. Then stop by Flower Mound High School at 8:30 am to get your grabbers and bags and head out. When you’re done (by 11 am), bring the trash bags back to the school. 

You’ll be treated to lunch after, and have the chance to browse the vendor booths from 10 am to noon.

Community members are invited to drop off recycling from 10 am to 1 pm. Use the Sagebrush parking lot entrance. They’ll have two paper shredding trucks for personal papers, each with a 9,000-pound capacity. These events generally fill one-and-a-half to two trucks of shredded paper.  

Household items such as small appliances, small furniture, clothing, and textiles will go to Donate 2 Impact. The Lions Club will collect eyeglasses, and Terra Cycle will recycle pens, pencils, and markers. You can also get rid of wire hangers, plastic bags and thin-film plastic, and books. The Flower Mound Police will take old medications for proper disposal. 

Click here for more information.