Volunteers with the 100 Women DBA clean up Bay St. Louis neighborhood

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WLOX) - A neighborhood in Hancock County are looking better after a group of women spent Saturday morning cleaning up trash and debris in Bay St. Louis.

Members of the 100 Women DBA cleaned up Keller Street, which is just off Bookter Street, pulling all sorts of things from the wooded area. It’s a spot that used to be clear but, over time, has turned into a spot where people dump their trash.

“It used to have this beautiful canopy of trees and, since Zeta knocked the trees down, it really looks bad and it’s as if it gets neglected,” said 100 Men Hall Director Rachel Dangermond.

When trash is left behind, Dangermond said it only attracts more trash and allows people to think it’s okay to dump items like TVs, sofas, radiators, tires and other junk.

Using gloves and trash grabbers, the women who came out to volunteer had a mission to not only cleanup the area, but also to get the message out that this isn’t a dump site.

“We have so much unattended areas in our community and so, as community members, we have to pitch in to help keep our areas beautiful and clean,” said volunteer Kristy Clark. “We just want to present that good face forward to everyone who comes and visits.”

Dangermond said there are other areas throughout the city like Keller Street so their work won’t stop there.

“We’ve been wanting to get to some streets around here and this is like our first stop so we’ll be looking to do these cleanups every once in a while,” said Dangermond. “But right now, we just really wanted to take care of this. It was really bad around here.”

The women cleaned up several bags of trash and debris.

100 Women DBA is a benevolent society and a program of the 100 Men Hall whose mission is to uplift women of minority status in business in Mississippi. For more information on the organization and how you can join, visit their website.

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