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High School students help clean up storm debris from ‘thousands’ of fallen trees in Dallas

Posted at 3:50 PM, Jul 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-19 17:50:28-04

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    Dallas, TX (KTVT) — It’s been nearly six weeks since the storm that claimed thousands of trees in Dallas, and the remnants are still piling up on residential streets.

As the city continues to pick up loads of debris, some entrepreneurial high school students came up with a way to help and make money.

“I was just thinking how annoying that would be if that was me seeing stacks of leaves. I was like, ‘We should do something to get rid of this,’” 15-year-old Mason Link said.

The severe weather forced the city’s Sanitation Department into overdrive. They estimate it created more than 70,000 tons of debris and six times their average monthly volume. While they hired additional crews and suspended normal bulk and brush collection for July, they still have a ways to go.

“Our first day we went around putting fliers at doors that looked like they needed help with the piles,” 16-year-old Taylor Elliott said. “We got a couple calls back. I got some voicemails.”

They lined up five jobs for Thursday and more through the weekend, charging 50 to 100 dollars, and earning praise from potential customers.

“I just thought it was remarkable,” Greenway Crest resident Eleanor McGuire said. “I was going to make that suggestion to my grandsons to maybe think of something enterprising like that instead of playing video games.”

And for some teens, it was boredom that brought them to work.

“It’s better than being home, I guess, just doing nothing. Sitting on the couch, annoying our siblings,” Link said.

However, some kids like Garrison Elliott, 15, did it for the community service and some extra spending money.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to help out the community and get some spending money,” Elliott said.

The city says it’s already picked up 10,000 loads of storm debris. They expect to continue picking it up until Aug. 3.

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