Community Clean-up

Yesterday, I spent 4 hours scouring a half mile segment of the Potomac Riverbed along the Four-mile Run trail. The weather was beautiful, sunny and the perfect temperature. I participated in this activity in conjunction with my church congregation's community service outreach activities. We had 58 people come to help clean-up the riverbed which was a phenomenal turnout. We also had all ages helping in the effort from around 2 years old to 60s.

What was super cool about the event was that not only did church members come and participate but also members of the community who were not members of our congregation. It was so fun to meet neighbors and work together to make the trail a more pleasant place. I was particularily impressedby two young boys (who lived in the next county) came to join our efforts. As they were waiting for their mother to pick them up, I chatted with them about their experience during the morning hours. They talked about all the random things they found, about falling into the water (which I actually wouldn't be surprised if they did that on purpose), and how many bags of trash and recycleables they filled. They came to help in order to get extra credit for school but what was interesting was that they both agreed that they had fun. I was shocked when one boy said, "It was so fun cleaning up the river and a lot better option than sitting at home watching tv or playing video games." (I'm not making this up...promise.)

Another cool thing that happened often as we picked up trash was that as bikers and joggers passed us they would often call down a "thank you" for our efforts. Others would also inquire about what our group was and how we organized this activity.

We collected around 100 bags of trash and recyclables and we could have kept going. There is still much more to do along the river, but every effort helps us get a bit closer.