Pepperell football players clean up to give back to community that supports them

Pepperell High School senior football players took to the streets of Lindale Sunday to help pick up trash and do some landscaping around a business to give back to the community that supports them on Friday nights.

From Park Avenue to Dragon Drive in Lindale, 16 seniors headed out from the Gilbreath Recreation Center with trash bags and trash-grabbers to clean up their community.

Besides picking up trash, Rome Arborist Terry Paige led a group of four players to the Family

Dollar store to landscape the trees on their property. Players pruned the dead branches and spread mulch at the base of the trees.

Hunter Chastain, running back and linebacker, said “the community helps us out so much, it’s just a way of saying ‘thank you.’”

Former Pepperell coach David Jones, who led a cleanup crew, took the opportunity while walking around with players to give them a history lesson on Lindale and build their sense of community.

Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord, a Pepp­erell alumnus, said the players wanted to do something but needed some help setting it up.

So, McCord contacted Mary Hardin Thornton, director of Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful.

Thornton helped, and added to it by having

them also bring and collect canned food to support Rome Action Ministries.

At least three grocery bags of canned food were collected.