Despite the heat, and the high humidity several local organizations team up with the northwest community to roll-up their sleeves, get dirty and make a difference. However, as Valerie Gonzalez-Sanchez reports, an unexpected find reminds the community of the importance of keeping their community clean.

Miguel Pomar is looking forward to "just playing around, playing basketball, playing on the playground." He is just one of the many volunteers that showed up to clean-up Robert Muller park located in northwest Laredo. The clean-up, spear-headed by City Councilman Jorge Vera, included several local groups and even some nearby residents.

Eddie Millan, Public Information Officer for the Laredo Parks & Leisure Department, boasts: "This is a beautiful park, and it's just in it's beginning stages. There's a lot of trash that needs to be picked up. We want to beautify this area along with Keep Laredo Beautiful and the City of Laredo Parks Department. We're trying our best to beautify this area and hand it to the citizens of Laredo."

However, despite the park's beauty, an ugly finding mares the event. Among the debris, volunteers come across drug paraphernalia.

Councilman Jorge Vera, District 7, warns parents: "We're not just cleaning up our parks, we're also cleaning up the community. This is the type of stuff that we have in our parks. If you want your kids around this, then don't get involved. If you want to put a stop to this, and you want to take care of our kids, we need to report this type of action in our parks."

The park while full of potential is a diamond in the rough. Volunteers used paint-brushes, heavy-machinery and even axes to reveal what will soon become the feature of Robert Muller Park, it's pond.

This is a before and after project. The vegetation you see is the before part. It's very difficult to walk through; you can hurt yourself. What they're looking forward to, is the after part, the pond. A treasure found right here in northwest Laredo.
Their efforts will soon be enjoyed by all when the brush is cleared, but for now, volunteers remind their community to maintain what they've worked so hard to clean-up.

Emily Sanchez, RGISC volunteer comments: "People need to be aware that these are our parks. Our children come play here and we need to make sure that they're clean."

All in all, the volunteer's main message is to prove just how important it is to keep Laredo beautiful.

Reporting for Pro8News, Valerie Gonzalez-Sanchez.