Dyess Airmen clean up Kirby Lake

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Alexander Guerrero
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  More than 30 Dyess Airmen volunteered part of their weekend to help rid Kirby Lake's banks of trash and debris.

Tech. Sgt. Judah Davis, 7th Component Maintenance Squadron, led and organized the lake clean-up June 14 in conjunction with the Keep Abilene Beautiful organization.

"For whatever reason, people decide to treat Kirby Lake as a dump. Because of that, there is a lot of trash out here," Davis said. "We're also doing this while coordinating with Keep Abilene Beautiful to help improve our relations with the city."

Davis, who grew up near Abilene, has a personal connection with the lake.


"The main motivating factor for me is that I fish out here a lot with my brother. We see the amount of trash out here first hand, and it's always bothered me," he said. "There's a lot of trash, especially at the dam, just shoved down in between the rocks."

This is my first time cleaning up the lake," he said. "I've heard of others doing the same thing. It's what gave me the idea to do it myself."

The Keep Abilene Beautiful organization assisted Davis by providing trash bags and legal release forms for volunteers. Davis, who hopes to continue Kirby Lake clean-ups, looks forward to working with them to strengthen the bond between Dyess and Abilene.


We'd like to branch out and see what else we can do to help," Davis said. "I'd also like to get out here and continue this clean up on an annual or semi-annual basis, in order to maintain the work we've put into it."
Through the coordinated efforts of Keep Abilene Beautiful and Team Dyess volunteers, 108 large trash bags, or three dumpsters, were removed from the banks of Kirby Lake. During the project, families at the lake who observed the volunteers temporarily pitched in and picked up the garbage around them.

"Hopefully this will be our little way to make some sort of good impact on the area," Davis said.