LIVERMORE FALLS – Tiffany Hutchins and Taylia Brewer began filling a large bag with downtown trash on Valentine’s Day. By the time they were done, they had filled six or seven more.

The Livermore Falls Middle School sixth-graders have already made plans to pick up trash once a month in their effort to clean up the town.

Hutchins, 12, of Livermore Falls, and Brewer, 11, of Livermore, describe themselves as “BFFs” – best friends forever – especially since their friendship strengthened this school year.

They were hanging out with each other on the first Saturday of school vacation at Hutchins’ house when they decided to make a second trip to the library.

Then Hutchins got an idea and grabbed a trash bag.

“We were expecting it to be a little trash,” Brewer said.

They started at Hutchins’ house on Church Street and walked toward Main Street, picking up trash as they made their way to Central Plaza.

They found wrappers, paper cups, crushed boxes, cigarette butts, food, a carton of milk and more.

They stopped at Puff ‘n Stop and asked for another bag. They were given one, and permission to put the full bag in the store’s Dumpster.

A clerk also gave them a free hot drink.

The girls restarted on their mission and filled another bag and then another.

“While were walking we saw a whole bunch of trash,” Hutchins said.

“We were disgusted,” Brewer said. “Throwing trash on the ground is against the law, isn’t it? We’re kind of innocent, we don’t litter. We felt bad because our town could be really prettier if people didn’t litter.”

Brewer said though she doesn’t live in town, she is one of the Andies and considers it hers.

“Our town could be a really nice place,” Hutchins said. “This is how we could stop global warming and make sure our planet lives longer.”

As the girls walked they stopped at businesses and got more bags, and some more treats.

They had disposed of two bags in appropriate places when a Livermore Falls police cruiser drove by and stopped.

Police helped with the six other bags by putting them in the cruiser trunk to dispose of them for the girls.

Their next time out is Saturday, March 14.

Hutchins and Brewer plan to eat Cheerios for breakfast and a special healthy lunch before they hit the road.

This time they want to double their collecting and extend their route.

“It feels good to help out the town because afterwards we felt proud,” Hutchins said.

“I learned that when you do something for a community that even if you don’t get anything in return, you’re still doing something good for the community,” Brewer said.