As Marcie Novack Winter picked up her share of the litter in and around White Rock Lake at the 1995 Trash Bash, she began to wonder why the entire year was spent littering the lake and only one day was spent cleaning it up.

It was on that day that the idea for For the Love of the Lake was born.

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For the Love of the Lake, a grassroots, nonprofit group dedicated to improving White Rock Lake and its surroundings, has since proven effective at donating not only funds, but volunteers, time and ideas to help “spruce up” the area.

The group’s latest effort, the installation of about 400 new covered trash cans, which include recycling bins, has been its largest success in the two years they have been operating.

“This is the first time in a Dallas park that recycling bins have been introduced and the park is definitely a whole lot cleaner,” says Winter, the group’s founder and coordinator.

The two months since the bins were installed have yielded nearly two tons of plastic, aluminum and glass.

Although the group works closely with the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, which helps to fund some projects, money for the recycling bins came solely from donations to the cause.

The group’s request for small local businesses to “adopt” cans, which involves a donation of $250 for one can or $800 for an array of three cans, netted a bigger response than they expected when 7-Eleven, on behalf of The Southland Corporation, joined the cause, donating seven “arrays.”

“We really didn’t expect the response we got,” she says. “The sponsor list just continued to grow and now we have something that people notice when they go to the park.”

The assembly of the bins was completed by volunteers, with concrete donated by the Parks department.

“I think the project is very helpful to cleaning up the Lake,” says For The Love of the Lake volunteer Wayne Weltin.  “I used to be so disappointed with the appearance of the lake when I would go to the park.

“I can really see the difference these cans have made.”

The Parks Department is responsible for collecting the recyclables from the receptacles, and taking them to BFI, where they are sorted and recycled.

BFI, the recycling partner for the program, has donated the tipping fee that is usually assigned for having to sort commingled recyclables at its Plano plant.

Other corporate sponsors for the Adopt A Can program include:  Lucent Technologies, Full Circle Recycling Service, Ben E. Keith Beers, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of North Texas, Merchants of Casa Linda, Forest Hills Association, Jenny Capritta RE/MAX Realtors, Swiss Avenue Bank, DECATS Students, Ebby Halliday Realtors Northeast, Starbucks Casa Linda, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and North Central Texas COG.

For more information on other events sponsored by For the Love of the Lake, call 972-622-SAVE.