LAPLACE — Volunteer registration is open for the Nov. 18 Fall Clean Sweep, an event planned by St. John the Baptist Parish officials and the Keep St. John Beautiful Committee to promote anti-littering and community improvement.

Clean Sweep is a bi-annual parish wide cleanup day and a good opportunity for high school youth groups, civic organizations, churches, agencies and residents to become involved in the community and earn service hours, according to Keep St. John Beautiful representative Greg “Za” Maurin.

Volunteers will meet at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 18 at Thomas F. Daley Memorial Park on U.S. 51 to pick up supplies and free T-shirts, Maurin said.

Between 9 and 11:30 a.m., volunteers branch out to clean areas throughout St. John Parish before returning to Thomas F. Daley Memorial Park to enjoy music, jambalaya and other refreshments.

Volunteers can sign up at sjbparish.com or contact Terri Abadie at 985-652-9569 to reserve specific neighborhoods.

Supplies can be picked up in advance on Nov. 17 at the Percy Hebert Building at 1801 W. Airline Highway, according to a St. John Parish press release.

Many volunteers choose to clean streets around their homes, Maurin said, but those who do not reserve neighborhoods will most likely be assigned to major thoroughfares.

“When we assign spots, we target highly visible areas that people first see when coming into the parish,” Maurin said.

“We want to maintain a good first impression.”

Maurin said the Clean Sweep events have seen a lot of community response in the past, usually attracting hundreds of volunteers.

If volunteers who have participated before find themselves collecting less trash each time, the project has had a successful impact.

“The goal isn’t to pick up more,” Maurin said. “It’s to pick up less. I’ve had people come up to me and say they didn’t collect as many bags this year, and I tell them that’s a good thing.”

Keep St. John Beautiful is an affiliate of Keep Louisiana Beautiful, aiming to reduce littering at support local recycling efforts.

“Our main purpose is to use grant money from Keep Louisiana Beautiful to support cleanup efforts,” Maurin said. “We try to bring littering to the attention of officials so they can make ordinances.”

He said Parish President Natalie Robottom and Sheriff Mike Tregre have shown outstanding support for Keep St. John Beautiful initiatives.

The organization also supports National Recycling Day and has conducted projects in the past encouraging St. John residents to plant trees and wildflowers.