Photo by Jon Anderson
Greystone Elementary School parent Rich Trucks blows pinestraw into place as part of the 2025 Hoover City Dad Brigade back-to-school cleanup on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
The Hoover City Dad Brigade is looking for volunteers for its 2026 back-to-school cleanup.
The annual event, in which volunteers converge on all Hoover City Schools campuses to spruce them up in advance of the start of the school year, is scheduled for Saturday, July 11.
Volunteers will be doing tasks such as putting out pine straw, trimming bushes, doing other landscaping projects, pressure washing, moving furniture and other general cleanup, said Hoover Councilman Derrick Murphy, who coordinates the effort each year in conjunction with school principals.
Work is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m and continue til about 11:30 a.m., but volunteers can come and go as their schedule dictates, Murphy said. Work is coordinated by team captains at each school.
The Hoover City Dad Brigade once again this year is coinciding with Church of the Highlands’ Serve Day, in which church members help schools with various projects, Murphy said.
Murphy started the Hoover City Dad Brigade in 2015 and has held it each year except 2024. Last year, more than 500 volunteers from the Dad Brigade, Church of the Highlands and several other churches spread out across Hoover’s 16 schools and the Riverchase Career Connection Center.
Chick-fil-A is providing a free breakfast for the Dad Brigade volunteers, Murphy said.Volunteers are asked to sign up in advance here to help with planning but are welcome to show up without registration.
