Yellowhammer Outdoor Development

That’s a Wrap for FY 2026 Future Earth Keepers Program 🌍

Today was an incredible finale for the Future Earth Keepers Program! We spent the day with the hardworking Hokes Bluff Elementary School 5th grade students, who hit the ground running to protect their community watershed. These students rolled up their sleeves and cleared an impressive amount of trash off the roadways, proving that you're never too young to make a massive impact.

With today’s success, we are proud to announce that 4 schools across 4 counties are now officially certified “Earth Keepers!”

A Heartfelt Thank You

This mission truly took a village. We want to extend a huge thank you to the partners and leaders who ensured our Hokes Bluff cleanup was a success:

Mayor Scott Reeves & the Hokes Bluff Police Department (for keeping our students safe on the move!)

Coosa Valley RC&D

Etowah County, Alabama 4-H

Alabama Power Service Organization (Eastern Division)

All of our amazing community volunteers!

We couldn't have asked for a better way to close out this program. Our watersheds are cleaner and our future is brighter thanks to these students.

🌍 1,000+ LBS OF TRASH REMOVED! 🌍

Our Future Earth Keepers were hard at work for Earth Day! The Cleburne County Middle School 6th grade class rolled up their sleeves and did an incredible job, pulling over 1,000 pounds of trash out of their community. Seeing these students take such pride in protecting our natural resources is what this program is all about!

We want to extend a huge thank you to Cleburne County Middle School for partnering with us. Their dedication to ensuring an impactful, hands-on learning day for these students made all the difference!

This massive effort wouldn’t have been possible without our dedicated partners:

Coosa Valley RC&D for providing the vital funding that makes these programs possible.

The amazing volunteers from Alabama Power Service Organization (Eastern Division) and Cleburne County-Alabama Extension.

Conner Draper with the CCHS Beta Club for his hard work and leadership.

Sheriff Jon Daniel and the Cleburne County Sheriffs Department - Alabama Deputies for keeping our students safe on the roads and providing trailers to haul the trash away.

📸 A big shout-out to our amazing photographer, G.r. Stamps, for capturing the day so perfectly! We can't wait to share these photos of our hardworking students in action.

✋ WANT TO JOIN US?

The momentum doesn't stop here! We have two more Future Earth Keeper cleanups scheduled for next week:

📍 Cherokee County – Monday, April 27
📍 Etowah County – Friday, May 1

If you’d like to volunteer and help keep our waterways clean, shoot us a DM or email Christy at [email protected].