2018 Earth Day Clean-Up
April 22nd Clean-Up of Church Road
YOUR HELP MADE IT A GREAT DAY
Renee & I have hosted numerous public events through the years. No matter how well we prepare, the day of the event we are nervous. "What if no one shows up?"
Fortunately, we didn't have to be nervous for too long, shortly after we set up the supplies, our good friend Mike showed up and right behind him were Jim & Judy.
In preparation we reached out to the Board of Supervisors of Eldred Township
and they agreed to play a cooperative role in this Earth Day clean-up.
We also, registered with PennDot as part of their 2018 "Great American Clean-Up".
And we asked St. Matthews Church at the foot of Church Road to help advertise the effort - which they did in their bulletin and from the pulpit the week before.
Renee and I prepared a mailing list
of all residents along Church Road and
sent a first class letter
inviting them to join us.
With a little prodding PennDot
happily provided us with plastic trash bags and safety vests & gloves.
Before PennDot came through
we had offers from one of the Town's
Supervisors to get us safety vests
and if necessary to bring a Township
truck to pick-up our bags of trash.
As our first volunteers - Jim & Judy headed out, others were showing up.
We were thrilled to know that
the day would be a success.
We just didn't know
how "huge" a success.
We were so excited when
Jessica showed up with her kids,
Hunter, Morgan & Camryn.
As did our other volunteers,
they signed into our guest book.
Seeing this family signing in together
sent me back in time.
48 years ago, I was a kid and organized
the very first Earth Day.
And through the years, after Renee and
I married and had kids,
we worked as a family on many
dozens of clean-ups and other
community involvement projects.
So it was with great pleasure that
we watched this
happy family preparing to
work together.
It was cute to watch Camryn
attempt to fit into man-sized latex gloves
and her safety vest.
We watched as the family
made there way
down the road and disappeared.
In all honesty, Renee & I had been
keeping a close "tab" on the amount
of trash along the roadside.
We imagined each team bringing back
about 1/5th of a bag or less.
The goal was to collect the beverage containers tossed from cars
and the paper bags from fast food.
We imagined that we could
take all this trash home with us
and have it collected with our
regular household trash pick-up.
We were especially impressed that
some folks, like Maggie,
came from miles away to clean-up
Church Road.
Maggie came along with Township
Supervisor Mary Anne
to do their Earth Day "good deed".
As they walked off
we knew that some neighbors
were already collecting trash near
to their homes instead of first
coming to the schoolhouse
to sign in.
But we had no idea how many
at this time.
But we were in for an unexpected surprise.
More friends, like Kathy & Brian
showed up and put on vests
and posed for photos.
Some folks make those tiny PennDot
vests look so good!
As the day continued,
teams returned and more neighbors,
like Irene & Dean showed up.
We so appreciate folks that had
other engagements this Sunday
but were kind enough to share part
of their busy day with us.
This corner of the schoolhouse
seemed to be the one
that folks enjoyed sitting in the most.
From the moment we began
advertising the clean-up
we told folks that as important as
cleaning up was, it was equally
important to use this day to
network with neighbors.
We seem to wave from our cars throughout
the day, now we can pause, in-person
and chat for a bit.
From these pictures
it seems like Judy was hosting a
nighttime talk show and interviewing
guests one at a time...
I have to admit, I began to worry
when Jessica & her kids failed to return.
After awhile I just assumed that the kids got tired and they headed home.
But little did I know that they had collected so much trash - including car tires
that they had to call their dad
and get him to stop work and
bring his large pick-up truck
to haul their collection back to the school.
As the pile of trash grew and grew
we started to realize that we were
gathering more trash than we could
dispose of on a household level.
But we figured we would worry about that
later. Now was the time for us to shoot
a few squirts of Purell on our hands
and dig into the great treats inside.
Al, the owner of Aces Gourmet Foods over on 209 graciously provided delicious quiches and fruit pies (my favorite was the combination
blueberry & peach cobbler).
Also, the manager of McDonalds in Brodheadsville had provided lots of coffee to wash down our pie.
But I have to say,
the trash outside was building up
quicker than calories at Christmas dinner.
I asked for help from Mike to start "hiding" the trash behind the historic school.
I was afraid folks would see it before we
could have it hauled off and it
would become a trash magnet.
We were so grateful for
all the hard work that our neighbors
and friends did.
They really made the day
a huge success.
My biggest delight of a day
filled with numerous delights
had to be the kids.
It isn't often that you find
youngsters willing to give up a
weekend day to do "grown-up" work.
They really are a credit to their parents.
Meanwhile, back at Judy's talk show
we were getting the lowdown
on why Mary Anne & Maggie
left a line of tires and trash bags
along the road for pick-up - equal to
what everyone else collected.
As Mary Anne explained "As you stepped a little closer to the woods, you saw another tire, and then a little further another...."
We are grateful that eventually she drew
a limit.
(Just joking, we appreciate the hard work)
In the end, each volunteer received
a custom certificate thanking
them for the work and as
a keepsake and reminder
of how they made the planet Earth
a better place.
As Renee & I packed up and headed home, we swapped stories of our favorite moments from the day.
But we also began planning a strategy on how to deal with the truck load of trash and over a dozen car & truck tires.
The next day we got offers - that we could bring the trash & tires to a trash collection business and they would waive their fee.
But we really didn't have a way to transport it all.
But Renee reached out to a contact at PennDot and she said "We'll pick it up before the end of the day." We explained that it was "hidden" behind the school and that might be a problem.
But of course we were appreciative of PennDot stepping up. Next we called our friend Mike (since we were away) and asked him if he could move the trash to the road. He agreed (he is such a nice guy).
When we drove home the next day, we passed the school and saw all the trash and tires had been taken away!!!!
So many folks stepped up to make this a success. This morning we visited Aces Gourmet Food & McDonalds to thank them each and provide them with a photo plaque thanking them.
And this Wednesday we will speak at the Town's Supervisors meeting to give a report and present them with a plaque also.
Thank you, We'll see you next year!
