Volunteers assist in clean-up of Trophy Club park

TROPHY CLUB — It has been 23 years since the devastating events of 9/11 shocked our nation. Life was interrupted that fateful morning in September as we mourned the great loss of so many people,  along with many first responders. Life would never be the same. Hope that springs forth from that rubble and loss of life, brings communities together annually to remember and serve each other in helpful and meaningful ways.

In commemoration of 9/11, the Town of Trophy Club asked for volunteers to assist in the Trophy Club Park Community Clean-up for the National Day of Service and Remembrance on Saturday, Sept.14. Three two-hour work sessions were planned for the clean-up event. Individual community members, volunteers with JustServe as well as other groups joined the effort.

Trophy Club Park is beautiful and offers nature hiking trails, ATV and motocross tracks, boating, picnic areas, equestrian trails, etc. Earlier this year, the adjoining Grapevine Lake was flooded 10 feet above normal levels due to heavy rains. By June 2024, the lake level was at 16.69” in flood stage. This caused adjoining Trophy Club Park of 865 acres to be flooded, with 90% of the park underwater. Much of the park is heavily wooded, which allowed debris to become entangled within trees and foliage as water levels receded.

Congregation members from the Alliance area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated alongside the Town of Trophy Club and other community groups in this effort. Members of the Church’s local congregations included numerous full-time missionaries, youths and adults. Everyone was intent on finding litter to help restore the beauty of the park, moving in areas off pathways not typically traversed.

Several shared their satisfaction about serving alongside family, friends, and the community to serve a common goal. Thorny paths led to interesting finds in the debris and were shared amongst each other like a dead snake, shoe, spark plug, glass plate, hockey mask, vehicle plastic bumper, bottles, cans, various balls, lots of Styrofoam, a plastic monkey from a Barrel of Monkeys game, etc.

One high school teen from the “Inspire” Trophy Club Chapter of Young Men’s Service League felt great satisfaction in trashing a harmful drug found in the rubble. Several moms and their sons came from this organization for the clean-up. One mom shared about their membership with the league, where moms and their teenage sons volunteer together to serve their local communities during the son’s four years of high school. She emphasized the important need for our youth to be involved in service and expressed the great opportunity to do this with her son regularly.

The Trophy Club Rotary Club assisted in providing services for the event. The Trophy Club Parks and Recreation Department played an important part as well. Some rode four-wheelers throughout the work areas, assisting volunteers by providing guidance, thanking everyone they passed. City employees from Parks and Rec cheerfully thanked workers at their departure and collected equipment.