Gloves? Check. Hefty bags? Check. Walking shoes? Check. Community spirit? Check. Make that double-check, and that made Shelee Loughmiller one happy gal.
Loughmiller, the city’s community and volunteer coordinator, addressed a gathering of around 80 before sending them off to pick up everything from fast-food wrappers, to beer bottles, cigar butts, and who-knows-what Saturday morning on a chunk of north Mare Island.
“This is a good turnout,” said Loughmiller, hosting the city’s “The Big Clean” in celebrating Earth Day.
It mattered not that developer Southern Land typically removes big-sized trash dumped, Loughmiller said.
The smaller items removed Saturday like cigarette butts and plastic may not be as visible, but can wreck havoc with the ecosystem, said Loughmiller.
“Obviously, we’re right here on the waterway and that’s our biggest concern; keeping it out of the bay so aquatic life is not at risk,” she said. “The more we can do upstream to clean up, the less chance it ends up in the water.”
The community clean-up brought out the Vallejo Fire Dept., Leadership Vallejo, Jennifer Kaiser of Vallejo Flood and Wastewater, Mike Malone, the city’s water director, and Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan.
Observing that Vallejo’s “trash issue is worse,” Hannigan said it’s a plus that “more and more” volunteers are interested in participating in the clean-up events.
Malone, driving down from his Sacramento home to volunteer, said it’s important for people to participate because “it’s their city. It’s our city. You want to keep it clean.”
Several parents brought their children along and that’s all good, Malone said.
“Instilling community service at a young age, you hope it carries over when they become adults. It’s really important,” Malone said.
Ruben and Maria Gonzalez moved to Vallejo from Oakland last September and brought their 21-year-old daughter, Natalie along for the trash pick-up.
“We love the city but we do see a little problem with trash,” Ruben said. “We thought it’s important to get involved in the community.”
There was no excluding their daughter, he added.
“We all live here and I think it’s important for my daughter to understand since she’s part of the community, she should help,” Gonzalez said, emphasizing that his daughter volunteered.
“She’s just sad that she had to leave her dogs behind,” he said.
Rosie and David Fletcher also brought their daughter, 8-year-old Emily.
“I think it’s good for them to see that they also have to be part of a bigger picture,” Rosie said.
It mattered not that the Fletchers live in Antioch. Because Rosie works in Vallejo, “it’s important that I drive through these streets to see they’re actually clean.”
Leadership Vallejo sent a handful of its members to the event, including Tim Fitzgerald and Dale Mendoza.
“You can complain all you want but nothing gets done with just complaints. Here we are actually doing something,” Fitzgerald said.
“I grew up in Vallejo. It’s one thing to see something and be sad about it. It’s another thing to do something about it,” agreed Mendoza. “It’s good to do it.”
Earth Day inspired Hillary Wysocki to grab her gloves and a Hefty bag and join other volunteers.
“I really care about and the community and there’s a lot of trash,” Wysocki said as she “had my eyes on these types of events for awhile and finally had the opportunity to come out and participate. Vallejo has such a good community and this is an example.”
Her colleague in collecting rubbish, Stephen Ellis, said “I think it’s rewarding to see everybody here doing it together.”
Julie Kaai-Rodriguez had done similar projects around Vallejo on behalf of her church as she and Elijah Richard Neurer teamed up.
The point of helping, Neurer said: “To serve.”
“We feel like we’re doing something for the city,” he said. “It takes your mind off of everything going on and you get to enjoy seeing everybody working for the same reasons.”
Basically action speaks louder than words, Kaii-Rodriguez said.
“Why talk down your city if you’re not doing anything about it,” she said. “If you want something done, do it.”
The Link LonkApril 25, 2021 at 03:51AM
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2021/04/24/forget-trash-talking-they-actually-did-someting-about-it/
Forget trash talking, they actually did someting about it - Vallejo Times-Herald
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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