Volunteer group plans to clean up parks, other county areas

SHARP COUNTY, AR (KAIT) - A new volunteer group has formed with hopes of beautifying parks and other spots across Sharp County.

Katherine Crider founded the organization Volunteer Hardy.

"I wanted something that I could just give back to my community and I wanted to get other people really involved with that because it's something that I'm very passionate about," Crider said. "So I just started talking to my friends and they were all into it too."

She wants to bring people together from four towns, Hardy, Cherokee Village, Highland, and Ash Flat, to make the county better, give back to the community, and promote tourism.

Their first meeting is Saturday, April 14, where they will brainstorm ideas.

"Anything that you're interested in, whatever your experience is, whatever your skill set is, come to us and we'll figure out a job for you," Crider said. "There's something that you can do here that will better our community whether it's painting up this park and planting a few trees like we're going to do or turning this great gas station into an amazing restaurant. You can be a part of that change, anybody can."

Crider also plans for the group to help with construction of a restaurant at the Rebel Station in Hardy after one of the owners has gotten sick and reached out to her for help.

"What I wanted to do is really just jump in there and help them as much as we can," Crider said.

The group is also asking for donations that can be used in the parks.

"We're really not looking for anything monetary at the moment," Crider said. "We don't want your money, we want your stuff. We want the old potting soil that you're not going to use, we want the old planters that you're not going to use, any old exterior paint that's lying around, your old tools, anything that you're not going to use that you think would benefit someone else."

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