LOVE FOR WEATHERFORD: Local man makes clean-up his mission, one street at a time
Jan. 31—WEATHERFORD — One Weatherford man has made it his mission to clean up Weatherford, one street at a time.
Jeff Oakes moved to the area about three years ago. One of the things he regularly noticed as the stay-at-home father of six took his children to school was the trash along the roadsides.
"There's so much trash," he said. "And I got sick of looking at it."
So he decided to take action.
His driving route to Crockett? Check.
On the way to Tison? Check.
In two months, he managed to rid four miles of road of debris.
"It was actually both sides of the road, so I'm absolutely going to count it as [8 miles]," he said. "I kept pretty close records and we did 74 bags of trash.
"We don't use the giant bags, because they get too heavy, but these are the big kitchen bags."
What started as a solo act became a family tradition when he enlisted the help of his children.
"My family spends time together now more than ever," Oakes said. "And they're fighting less."
Along his way, he's been stopped by several people who expressed interest in his mission — and those who applauded his efforts. The feedback prompted him to create a Facebook page for those interest in joining: Love Weatherford (www.facebook.com/groups/2577898312353285).
As of last week, more than 70 individuals had joined.
"I think we might be onto something," Oakes said. "I get the biggest kick out of driving down my newly-cleaned roads back and forth to town and I want people to feel that feeling also.
"It's like when you finally clean your car out real good or your house. And Weatherford is such a great town."
To date, volunteers have cleaned 12 miles of road side, around 22 businesses and collected 140 bags of trash.
Oakes was always drawn to community service. When he lived in South Dakota, he volunteered doing prison ministry, something he loved.
Oakes said his wife has been working on establishing a nonprofit. He's also reached out to the Weatherford chamber, juvenile probation office and Parker County Jail for anyone interested in volunteering and/or logging community service hours. He said he hopes to eventually get on the court's list as an avenue for that as well.
Next month, the Love Weatherford group plans to partner with two local churches along with community members for its first Clean-Up Day on Feb. 4, where several groups will be picking up trash near their locations. Oakes said there are two main rules for the community event: 1. Be safe. 2. Only work for 30 minutes.
"We want it short, sweet and fun," he said. "It seems like everybody is used to trash being everywhere. We've got to change that."
To find a location or ways to get involved, contact Oakes at 605-906-4322.
