Preliminary Report on the FIRST Spring Clean Up

Our metal collection rocks!!

So this is the first year that we have partnered with the Daytons Bluff Community Council to hold a joint spring community clean up. We held the event on Saturday, June 1 at Harding High School in the parking lot. In previous years, our two organizations have held separate events, both in the fall. We decided it made much more sense to work together and give our communities the opportunity to clear out their stuff twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall.

The initial review of participation tells us this was a good idea for everyone involved. Our participation was up 3% over the District 1 5 year average, with 237 households participating. This is a 25% increase over the District 1 event we held last October. Of those households, 23 were seniors who had our volunteer pick up crews come to their homes to haul away their stuff. This number is actually significantly down from previous years (by about 50%), but we account for this by the late date that we notified seniors of the option.

We had a total of 45 volunteers help us out on June 1, including a number from Daytons Bluff, 5 residents from Totem Town (and 2 staff members), and a couple of high school students doing community service toward their graduation requirements. We had 5 crews of volunteers who went to seniors' homes to help them out - and these fabulous folks have committed to providing this service again for the fall clean up.

More details will come later about the tonnage of stuff brought in and salvaged, but we had a dumpster and a half of metals, over a dumpster of mattresses, and a full dumpster of cardboard. Word from Eureka is that our tonnage of reuse was up, too - we will wait and see how it pans out... not as many bicycles and lawnmowers this year as in the past.

Many, many thanks to our fabulous volunteers, to Harding High School for providing the space, to Little Oven and Brueggers Bagels for keeping us well-fed, and to everyone who cleared out their homes and cleaned up the 'hood.

Look for the Fall Clean Up on September 14!