By Jessica Thompson | [email protected]

Taylorsville - While Taylorsville is still one of Utah’s newer cities, the area has a great history dating back to 1848, when pioneers Joseph and Susanna Harker crossed over the Jordan River and founded the Taylorsville-Bennion area.  However, it was on July 1, 1996, that Taylorsville became its own city, thanks to citizens’ efforts to develop a community that provides a desirable quality of life and a stable setting for local businesses.

This July, Taylorsville City turns 20 years old.  To celebrate this milestone, community members have come together to give the city a birthday gift of service. Former Taylorsville City mayor Janice Auger Rasmussen, as well as other community members, has created a month-long service project called “A Cleaner, Greener, Healthier Taylorsville.” 

“A friend in my neighborhood got the idea and wanted to find a way to involve people from all neighborhoods, all religious denominations and all perspectives to come together to make Taylorsville a better place to live,” Rasmussen said.

“A Cleaner, Greener, Healthier Taylorsville” is a month-long community service project that lasts from May 20 through June 20. Community members are encouraged to come together as families, schools, clubs, church groups, youth organizations or neighbors. 

“I think when people serve in their community, they become ‘vested’ in making it a better place and they learn more about the workings and the challenges of the city,” Rasmussen said. 

Another aspect of this month-long service project is that each group gets to choose which service they would like to perform for Taylorsville City. Some ideas for service projects include donating to a local charity, cleaning up a vacant lot, doing roadside cleanup or even planting a tree. 

For larger projects such as roadside clean up or park clean up, Taylorsville City can provide trash bags, leaf bags, paint or a dumpster if needed. The service projects committee has also compiled a list of organizations where charity and service is already needed within Taylorsville. Some of those organizations are Taylorsville City’s Aging Services, the Utah Food Bank, Taylorsville’s YMCA Family Center and the Remember Me Garden. 

“The service can be large or small; it can be in dollars or in time or in creativity.  Everyone who wants to serve can find a way that suits his own circumstance,” Rasmussen said. 

Once your groups of neighbors or families have completed their choice of service project, make sure to take a picture and post it to A Cleaner, Greener Healthier Taylorsville’s Facebook page. Also, report your hours and who participated in the service project to [email protected].

“As citizens of Taylorsville, we all should be a part of making it a better place to live.  Taylorsville has a great diverse population who we are calling upon to work together as neighbors, friends, churches, scout troops and/or individuals to choose a project that will make our community cleaner, greener and more healthy,” Dave Nigbur, a member of this community service project committee, said.