Heavy rainfall during the last few months of 2018 made a mess of the Brazos River.
When it overflowed in October, Keep Waco Beautiful had to cancel its quarterly cleanup.
With the water rising over the Riverwalk, people had no choice but to watch the garbage pile up, until now.
On Monday, hundreds of people got together for Keep Waco Beautiful's first river cleanup of the new year.
Ashley Mercado and her two children were happy to spend their MLK Day giving back.
"It's an important mission and they're doing a really good job," Mercado said. "I feel like giving back to the community is an important purpose in life and something good to teach your kids."
Ashley Millerd is the Executive Director for Keep Waco Beautiful. She said this was one of the biggest turnouts they've ever seen.
"We had close to 260 people sign up and I guarantee we probably have 400 people here," Millerd said. "I'm really surprised, especially with how cold it is, so it's a good thing."
With help from the Waco Paddle Company, volunteers were able to walk or paddle up and down the Brazos to pitch in.
They collected dozens of bags filled with things like plastic bottles, styrofoam cups and cigarettes.
"We did find a lot of trash, got a couple bags full of it," said Logan Compton, a freshman football player at Baylor University. "We're a part of Waco now. It's our city and we want to do everything we can to make it look as beautiful as possible."
"Just having this amount of people out and trying to clean up and enjoy our environment is a plus for me," Millerd said. "It makes me feel like I'm doing my job."
Millerd said their next cleanup is scheduled for April.
For more information on Keep Waco Beautiful, click here.
Copyright 2019 KXXV. All rights reserved.
