WITH THE FIRST signs of warm, sunny weather approaching, it’s time for many Northsiders to begin shaking off the winter blues and begin a little spring cleaning.

This year, while residents are sprucing up their homes and yards, they’re also being urged to take part in a much larger cleanup effort to help improve the image of the capital city.

Keep Jackson Beautiful (KJB) recently kicked off the Great American Cleanup. The annual and national campaign that targets litter removal began in March and will run until May 31. The group is asking everybody, from residents to local volunteer groups, to pitch in.

“We’ll supply the gloves and plastic bags,” said KJB Executive Director Marsha Hobson. “You supply the manpower.” To get more people involved in the effort this year, KJB, the local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful (KAB), is organizing cleanup days around scheduled events.

According to the KAB Web site, the Great American Cleanup is the largest community involvement program in the nation. In 2007, more than 2.8 million people participated, helping remove more than 200 million pounds of litter and debris from public areas.

In addition, volunteers planted more than 4.6 million trees, flowers and bulbs and cleaned up more than 178,000 miles of roadway.

KJB hosted their first event March 8, in the Washington Addition area near Jackson State University. “More than 200 people attended,” Hobson said. “We had a really good crowd.”

DURING THE EVENT, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton addressed the crowd. Afterwards, the mayor volunteered a little elbow grease of his own to help out. The group then awarded its hometown hero award to Dr. Scott Crawford, a Northsider who has been severely disabled by multiple sclerosis.

“He’s really a very important young man,” Hobson said, speaking of Crawford. In addition, KJB has donated a new chipper/shredder vacuum to the city’s Solid Waste Division. “When we have something going on, they can bring it out and set it up for us,” she said.

With one event behind them, Hobson said several other cleanup days are now in the works.

KJB is now working with the Fondren Renaissance Foundation to plan a cleanup day in the Fondren community. She hopes to have it coincide with one of the city’s “rollout dumpster days,” a day where residents can bring larger items, like furniture, to be disposed of.

Another event is scheduled for April 22 at Jamie Fowler Boyle Park on Lakeland Drive. “Earth Day falls in that time period,” she said. “We hope to plant trees and beautify the area.”