WUFT | News and public media for north central Florida
Gainesville residents come together to clean up community
By Mikayla Johnson
April 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM EDT
Equipped with garbage bags and bright orange safety vests, Gainesville residents hit the streets Saturday morning to participate in the Great American Cleanup.
Keep Alachua County Beautiful, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, organized the event as part of a broader nationwide green movement. The annual event aims to keep Gainesville clean while also building community and fellowship, Executive Director Carlos Gonzalez said.
“Part of our mission is to help beautify our space and protect our environment, so this is just one day out of the year where we have hundreds of people come out and clean up different parts of Gainesville,” he said.
Gonzalez’s passion for the environment and desire to preserve the city’s beauty is what drove him into this role.
“I want to make sure that future generations have what we have here,” Gonzalez said. “And with everything that’s going on with changes in the climate, with development and with waste and litter, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to protect the natural environments we enjoy.”
This is the 34th annual Great American Cleanup for Keep Alachua County Beautiful, an event that includes smaller cleanups throughout this time of the year, but the main date acts as a way to mobilize the entire community to get together and make a difference. The Great American Cleanup is part of a nationwide initiative by Keep America Beautiful, with many other communities across the nation taking part as well. On top of their efforts in Gainesville, Keep Alachua County Beautiful helps out the surrounding municipalities, like Archer, Newberry and LaCrosse, by providing them with supplies and helping them plan their own events.
Keep Alachua County Beautiful Executive Director Carlos Gonzalez gets volunteers ready to head to assigned locations to pick up trash. (Mikayla Johnson/WUFT News)<br/> (1548x900, AR: 1.72)
Volunteers were spread across the city to tackle the cigarette butts, cans and food wrappers left along roadways. Possible location assignments included Depot Park, the graffiti wall and the streets of downtown.
One volunteer, Sadie Matteucci, found herself picking up the remnants of a few late-night parties near University Avenue. She said several passersby went out of their way to thank her for cleaning up the streets.
“Not only are we directly picking up trash, but when people see us, they might feel inspired to go pick up trash,” Matteucci said. “So it kind of has an outward expansive effect on people.”
Karla Otero and Sage Cera shared a similar sentiment, emphasizing the importance of showing up for the environment and one another. Cera hopes events like this will spark more community service projects in the future.
“I think it’s really important as a community-building day,” he said. “It would be nice to do things like food drives or other community service days.”
While Cera focused on the potential for future community service projects, Otero highlighted the importance of protecting the planet.
“It’s a really great opportunity to be a good daughter to Mother Nature,” she said. “Littering is one of my biggest pet peeves and being able to combat that, even if it’s just a couple of cigarette butts off the street feels good to me.”
Maria Basinger felt the Great American Cleanup was the perfect opportunity to teach her daughter’s Girl Scout troop about community service and environmental responsibility. Basinger said she thought cleaning up a playground would be a perfect way to teach the girls about cleaning their own spaces.
“I kind of used the analogy of how you have to clean your bedroom to have a safe, clean space to play, and you have to clean up your park and playground to have a safe, clean space to play,” Basinger said.
She also noted positive interactions with community members during the cleanup, with other residents expressing gratitude.
“It definitely gets the community together,” she said. “We had a lot of people stop and tell us thank you and that it meant a lot to them that we were helping to clean their space and the place where they raised their kids.”
For Gonzalez, the cleanup is not just about beautification. It’s about protecting the place he calls home.
“One thing about Alachua County and Gainesville is that we’re surrounded by an amazing amount of wild spaces,” he said. “It’s something that I would like to see stick around forever and to protect on every level that we can.”
Keep Alachua County Beautiful, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, organized the event as part of a broader nationwide green movement. The annual event aims to keep Gainesville clean while also building community and fellowship, Executive Director Carlos Gonzalez said.
“Part of our mission is to help beautify our space and protect our environment, so this is just one day out of the year where we have hundreds of people come out and clean up different parts of Gainesville,” he said.
Gonzalez’s passion for the environment and desire to preserve the city’s beauty is what drove him into this role.
“I want to make sure that future generations have what we have here,” Gonzalez said. “And with everything that’s going on with changes in the climate, with development and with waste and litter, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to protect the natural environments we enjoy.”
This is the 34th annual Great American Cleanup for Keep Alachua County Beautiful, an event that includes smaller cleanups throughout this time of the year, but the main date acts as a way to mobilize the entire community to get together and make a difference. The Great American Cleanup is part of a nationwide initiative by Keep America Beautiful, with many other communities across the nation taking part as well. On top of their efforts in Gainesville, Keep Alachua County Beautiful helps out the surrounding municipalities, like Archer, Newberry and LaCrosse, by providing them with supplies and helping them plan their own events.
Keep Alachua County Beautiful Executive Director Carlos Gonzalez gets volunteers ready to head to assigned locations to pick up trash. (Mikayla Johnson/WUFT News)<br/> (1548x900, AR: 1.72)
Volunteers were spread across the city to tackle the cigarette butts, cans and food wrappers left along roadways. Possible location assignments included Depot Park, the graffiti wall and the streets of downtown.
One volunteer, Sadie Matteucci, found herself picking up the remnants of a few late-night parties near University Avenue. She said several passersby went out of their way to thank her for cleaning up the streets.
“Not only are we directly picking up trash, but when people see us, they might feel inspired to go pick up trash,” Matteucci said. “So it kind of has an outward expansive effect on people.”
Karla Otero and Sage Cera shared a similar sentiment, emphasizing the importance of showing up for the environment and one another. Cera hopes events like this will spark more community service projects in the future.
“I think it’s really important as a community-building day,” he said. “It would be nice to do things like food drives or other community service days.”
While Cera focused on the potential for future community service projects, Otero highlighted the importance of protecting the planet.
“It’s a really great opportunity to be a good daughter to Mother Nature,” she said. “Littering is one of my biggest pet peeves and being able to combat that, even if it’s just a couple of cigarette butts off the street feels good to me.”
Maria Basinger felt the Great American Cleanup was the perfect opportunity to teach her daughter’s Girl Scout troop about community service and environmental responsibility. Basinger said she thought cleaning up a playground would be a perfect way to teach the girls about cleaning their own spaces.
“I kind of used the analogy of how you have to clean your bedroom to have a safe, clean space to play, and you have to clean up your park and playground to have a safe, clean space to play,” Basinger said.
She also noted positive interactions with community members during the cleanup, with other residents expressing gratitude.
“It definitely gets the community together,” she said. “We had a lot of people stop and tell us thank you and that it meant a lot to them that we were helping to clean their space and the place where they raised their kids.”
For Gonzalez, the cleanup is not just about beautification. It’s about protecting the place he calls home.
“One thing about Alachua County and Gainesville is that we’re surrounded by an amazing amount of wild spaces,” he said. “It’s something that I would like to see stick around forever and to protect on every level that we can.”