Chat-N-Laff group gathers to clean community
Volunteers who enjoy a little bit of chatter served up with a smile launched a neighborhood Beautification Day earlier this month to spruce up public areas and help those needing yard care.
Volunteers from The First Baptist Church’s Chat-N-Laff group and others from around Taylor “showed up to clean up,” organizers said.
They picked up trash; trimmed grass, trees and bushes; and spent time outside connecting with their neighbors.
“It was fantastic. We had a great time. The people that we helped out were impressed that we showed up early and we kept our word,” said Willie Curtis, deacon at The First Baptist Church and organizer of Chat-NLaff.
While yard work and trash cleanup were the primary objectives, Curtis will be returning with some helpers to the home of an elderly woman who recently broke her hip and now uses a walker.
“The sidewalk (outside her home) is all crumbling and the pathways through her house are really small. She can’t get her walker through there,” Curtis said.
He has experience building custom homes and intends to fix both the sidewalk and widen spaces inside the residence.
“God gave me the talent, the wisdom, the blessing, whatever, to go out there and help someone out and that’s what I’m going to do,” said Curtis, a military veteran.
Chat-N-Laff members look for other ways to reach out and support the community, he added.
Recently, the group hosted impromptu neighborhood cookouts, serving up free hot dogs, hamburgers and chips to the community.
“We’ve done two of them and we had an average of 300 people come out,” Curtis said.
The Rev. Anthony Watson, who has served as pastor of The First Baptist Church for 28 years, encourages his congregation to help their neighbors, members said.
“Pastor Watson teaches and preaches on getting out in the community, helping the community out and we just might make a friend while we’re doing it,” Curtis said.
The church is at 300 N. Robinson St. For more, call Curtis at 210-5148988.
