Centerton church helps beautify roads in Decatur

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS The Newsong youth group and advisers pose with members of the Decatur Police Department in front of the station house in Decatur on May 7. Shortly after this moment, the church group began picking up trash along both Arkansas highways 59 and 102 to the Decatur city limits.
Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS The Newsong youth group and advisers pose with members of the Decatur Police Department in front of the station house in Decatur on May 7. Shortly after this moment, the church group began picking up trash along both Arkansas highways 59 and 102 to the Decatur city limits.

DECATUR -- Residents of Decatur who were out and about May 7 may have noticed a group of young people walking along either Arkansas Highway 59 or 102 with a trash bag in one hand and a grabber tool in the other. Wonder no more, for it was a local church group picking up trash from the Decatur Police Station to the Decatur city limits.

The Decatur beautification program was the brainchild of Steven Grizzle, chief of the Decatur Police Department, who approached the staff at the Newsong Assembly of God Church in Centerton and asked if it was possible to get the youth of their church interested in helping the city Of Decatur by volunteering to pick up trash during "Project Clean-up."

"Myself and Pastor Andrew Brummett, youth pastor, started planning a day that volunteer youth would come and work with our police officers for a few hours, picking up trash along the main roads through Decatur (Arkansas 59 and 102), Grizzle explained."

So on Saturday morning, 17 volunteers from the church gathered at the Decatur police station on Main Street ready to work.

"I divided the youth up into teams," said Grizzle. " I paired each group with an officer from our city, who also volunteered for the clean-up day. We worked for approximately three hours, picking up trash on both sides of the roadway from the police station to the city limits."

In that three-hour time period, the group picked up enough trash and debris to fill a pickup truck.

But the youths' efforts were not without some sort of reward.

"We took the kids to Crystal Lake Airport, where we played games with the youth, ate food which was supplied by local merchants and made sure the kids were well rewarded for their efforts on this day."

The games for the day's event included a Frisbee toss and the all-important cornhole tournament. The cornhole game featured two teams of two players each. The teams played to 11 points. The winning team went into the semifinal round; the losing team was eliminated.

At stake was a fantastic prize, a discovery flight in a Cessna 172 provided by Lance Dixon of Dixon Aviation. He provided the flight and pilot, Yi Chen, DFII (certified flight instructor-instruments).

Two points separated the final two teams of the contest as a bag in the goal gave Caleb Brummett and Colton Brummett the win and the pair's very first plane ride.

The group was also treated to a hamburger and hot dog lunch, complete with chips and a drink. The Decatur Fire Department provided the grill and cooks for the afternoon event. Other sponsors included Corner Spring Ranch, Carniceria Guanajuato (Decatur meat market), Handy Mart and Dollar General.

The Newsong Church youth who volunteered their time included Kayleigh Neighbors, Bryce Neighbors, Isaac Yockey, Sierra May, Anna Tankersley, Caleb Brummett, Colton Brummett, Lily Brummett, Olivia Baumgarten, Luke Baumgarten, Roman Baumgarten, Alexandria Beckloff and Nathan Bechloff.

The Decatur officers who volunteered their time, in addition to Chief Grizzle, included Sgt. Andy Adams, Cpl. Lance Dixon and Officer Luke Rouhselang.

The reason for the Newsong Assembly of God's involvement in the Decatur event was summed up in the words of Pastor Brummett, "The kids' one goal was to show the love of Jesus by their willingness to serve."

photo Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS A member of the youth group at the Newsong Church in Centerton tosses a bag (in flight) toward a cornhole board during a picnic celebration at Crystal Lake Airport on May 7. The church group was part of a trash pickup crew that policed for trash along Arkansas highways 59 and 102 in Decatur.
photo Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS A small group of teens from the Newsong Church in Centerton works with a Decatur police officer to pick up trash along Arkansas 59 north of Decatur on May 7.
photo Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Two members of the Newsong Church’s youth group take a ride on a Cessna 172 after winning the cornhole contest which was part of the Decatur Police Department’s picnic at Crystal Lake Airport in Decatur on May 7. The church group picked up trash along both Arkansas highways 59 and 102 in Decatur. The picnic was part of the group’s reward for its efforts.