Pearl River Youth Football Association's Division III Eagles tackle community clean up

By Anne Lautzenheiser
Published on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 3:19 PM CDT

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St. Tammany News

A group of young football players in Pearl River are tackling more than each other.

For five years now the Pearl River Youth Football Association Division III Eagles have been participating in various community service projects. Called The Clean Team Project, the team of 11- and 12-year-olds started with picking up trash and has gone on to bigger projects every year.

Members of the Pearl River Youth Football Association pose after spending a recent Saturday painting the playground equipment at James Lavigne Park.

"We began by cleaning up the litter around the area," said Pearl River Alderman Virgil Phillips, the Eagles' coach. "Then the next year we pulled tires out of a swamp, and the year after that we planted crape myrtles along the streets."

For this year's project they completely refurbished James Lavigne Park, located behind the Town Hall on Willis Alley.

They scrubbed graffiti, picked up trash and painted all the equipment, benches and tables in a rainbow of bright hues.

The team also adopted a long stretch of Louisiana Highway 41, from U.S. Highway 11 to Jim's Feed Store, for the Fall Cleanup on Oct. 20.

Phillips said the team began the project as a way to give back to the town, which was the charter sponsor of the league for Recreation District No. 5. The efforts have been well received by parents, who see the projects as a way to instill good habits.

"If one kid quits littering, or decides against writing graffiti, then the project is a success," said Phillips.

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Comments

1 comment(s)

Sally Davis wrote on Jan 29, 2009 10:39 AM:

" The crazy thing is for NCAA DIII, there is no such thing as a National Letter of Intent. And Softball Scholarships are ILLEGAL. What is this about??? "

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