Keep HSV Beautiful History

Originally, POA sponsored an annual cleanup, but it was not enough to keep The Village clean.  

Approx 1989, HSV Tennis Association members, led by Shirley Overton Breedlove organized an Adopt-a-Mile program that caught the interest of Villagers who wanted the roads near their neighborhood cleaned up more regularly.   Service Clubs joined the effort and took on some of the major roads such as DeSoto, Barcelona, Minorca, and Balearic. 

In 1994, the POA was asked to fund the program and the board approved funds for all supplies and signage. Sanitation picked up bags left on the road by Adopt a Mile volunteers. The “new” program was branded “Village Pride is Picking Up”, and Shirley was named as the Coordinator.   

In the Spring of 1998, the Inter-Service Club Council organized its own cleanup procedures, and set cleanup events twice a year, and shortened the name to “Village Pride Day”. Four of those original clubs are still supporting the effort - Evening Lions, Breakfast Lions, Kiwanis Club of HSV, and Rotary. Diane Bielanski was the Village Pride Day Coordinator.    

In October 2017, The Interservice Club Council disbanded and Friends of Hot Springs Village agreed to keep Village Pride going.   Mary Ann Kennedy was asked to be the Project Coordinator.  

She learned that Keep Arkansas Beautiful was offering supplies to communities free of charge if the coordinator agreed to report cleanup results for each event.  “Village Pride” was renamed to "Keep Hot Springs Village Beautiful" to align with the state program.  Their support has saved property owners thousands of dollars by providing gloves, vests, bags, and even tee shirts for our volunteers.  

January 2019 - Added KIC teams to clean major roads that get excessive litter.  

In 2023, Cindi Erickson agreed to serve as Co-Project Coordinator as a backup.  She is the Boomers Rock team leader and developed the Keep HSV Beautiful website.  She will serve as the Project Coordinator starting in January 2025.