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Midland kids spending Spring Break picking up community

As Spring Break comes to an end here in west Texas, you'll notice plenty of kids outside playing to get that last bit of fun in.  But if you go to the Sunrise Apartments at Fairgrounds in Midland, you'll find at least three trying to make their community beautiful.

MIDLAND, TX (KWES) - As Spring Break comes to an end here in west Texas, you'll notice plenty of kids outside playing to get that last bit of fun in.

But if you go to the Sunrise Apartments at Fairgrounds in Midland, you'll find at least three trying to make their community beautiful.

The Gonzales kids are just like any other, playing video games, football and riding their bikes.

But what may catch you off guard is how much they love keeping their community clean.

"I told my mom that there was trash outside, so when I came in and told my mom, 'can we go pick up the trash,' she said, 'yeah,'" said Leslie Gonzales' 12-year-old son Marcos.

After waiting out the recovery time following surgery to fix his deviated septum, Leslie Gonzales was shocked when her son, Marcos, wanted to pick up trash when he was finally allowed outside.

"For children their age, most of them want to go out and play, ride their bike, play football, play soccer," said Leslie. "But to want to clean outside, it's just kind of, really shocking more than anything."

The Gonzales kids have made up a game of cleaning up, with the child who picks up the most trash getting extra time spent playing video games that night.

However, Leslie's 10-year-old daughter Marissa said they weren't even worried about the gaming system.

"I want to make my mom real happy because I want her to get real happy because we were cleaning for her that way she doesn't have to clean for us every day," said Marissa.

"It's kind of sad," said Leslie's 10-year-old son Luis. "Because we want the whole town to be clean."

For Leslie, she said she is disappointed that most of the trash her kids spend their time picking up was clearly made by adults.

"It kind of makes them like, 'OK, well, if it's alright for a grown up to do this, it's OK for us to do it,'" said Leslie. "And that's not what I'm trying to show my children. I want my children to learn how to be responsible and be respectful, not only to others but to other people's property."

Leslie said she hopes when people see this, they decide to change, not for her, but for the community to be better.

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