McAllen Students Partner With TX Dot For Cleaner Roads
Courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation:
McAllen Students Join Litter Force Superheroes to Promote Cleaner Texas Highways
Research shows elementary school program working to combat litter
WHAT: The pep rally of all pep rallies will take place in McAllen when schoolchildren join superhero mascots to prove Texas can be litter-free. The Litter Force is a Don’t Mess with Texas campaign by the Texas Department of Transportation, aimed at teaching children not to litter. This fall, the Litter Force superheroes and their trash adversaries, called Evil Trash, will make their way to more than 25 Texas schools during a three-month tour.
A new TV PSA, leave-behind materials like a coloring book and character game cards, and an interactive Web site (dontmesswithtexas.org/litterforce) also reinforce the litter prevention message.
WHEN/WHERE:
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008
Event open to reporters only. Media should check in at the school office.
• Bonham Elementary, 9 a.m., located at 2400 Jordan in McAllen
• Seguin Elementary, 2 p.m., located at 2200 N. 29th Street in McAllen
KEY VISUALS/PHOTO OPS: The Litter Force will arrive in their new bus, which is wrapped with colorful
images. They’ll preview their brand new TV spot, which shows children how easy it is to keep Texas clean. Children will be able to participate in an interactive skit, sing along to the Litter Force’s theme song and, of course, meet the team of superheroes.
Litter Force members who will be there are Hawk (the group’s leader), Ultra (a modern-day Super Girl), Bolt (who can hear litter hit the ground from miles away) and K-900 (the group’s faithful companion who is half-bulldog, half-robot). The Evil Trash members in attendance will be Chipinator (a chip bag who leads the Evil Trash group) and Pop Top (who fires tabs that grow into new cans).
WHY: New research of Texas first-graders in five pilot school districts indicates the Litter Force team makes a difference. A telling research statistic shows 68 percent of first-graders exposed to the Litter Force and its messages have told someone in their family not to litter (compared to 55 percent in a similar study conducted in May 2007 among students with no prior exposure to the program). Additionally, 88 percent of students in the pilot markets know what litter is (compared to 78 percent in the previous study).
About Don’t Mess with Texas
Don't Mess with Texas has been educating Texans about litter prevention since 1986. TxDOT’s litter prevention program includes Adopt-a-Highway and a grassroots partnership with Keep Texas Beautiful. Don’t Mess with Texas activities also include a spring “Trash-Off,” community outreach, a scholarship and a corporate partner program. For more information, visit www.dontmesswithtexas.org. TxDOT’s goals are to reduce congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity, improve air quality and increase the value of transportation assets. For more information, visit www.txdot.gov.
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