I DIDN'T FINISH, BUT I MADE A BIG DENT!

 

I didn't finish, but I made a big dent in removing trash from the Wilbeth-Arlington Properties.  I met so many wonderful people from last summer.  

One little girl came running to me and gave me a big hug.  Last summer, she was a little kid.  Over the winter, she has transformed into a lovely young lady!  I almost didn't recognize her.  She said she still has her trash grabber!

Another man was outside digging a flower garden.  He yelled for his wife to come outside to see me.  They said they saw me in the newspaper.  Was I in the newspaper?

Over the holiday weekend, I picked up 25,344 pieces of trash in this neighborhood.  My trash cart sure got a workout! 

I hope they like it this way and try to keep it clean.  I did the hard part.  Once the landscaping crew comes through and chops up the trash, it's really hard to pick up.

This morning, I picked up all this change, another nail, and two knives.

I find knives on a regular basis, and I find a penny here and there.  Never this much!

I picked up a total of 93 nails, bolts and screws.  I hope I found them all.

I have a soft spot for the playgrounds.  They are the first areas I check.  The kids are so adorable.   I always have one child ask me, "Why are you picking up trash?"

And it doesn't matter what kind of answer I give, they immediately start picking up trash and drop in in my bucket.

Then they ask me, "Why are you counting the pieces?"

I tell them, "Because I'm going to pick up a million pieces of trash!"

At that point, they go back to the sliding board.  They might understand what ten means, but they don't understand a million.

I picked up all the trash in this giant field.  I didn't find any broken glass like I did last summer.  I really get upset when I find broken glass around the playgrounds.

I left that area and headed to the car, and I saw another really messy area.  It just never ends.

I wasn't sure I had it in me, but then I remembered the other area I cleaned in 12 minutes.  It doesn't usually take very long to make a big difference.

There were 453 pieces of trash here, lots of broken glass, and it only took 22 minutes.  (That's 20 pieces per minute.  I guess I need an audience to pick up trash really fast!)

There was a lady cleaning her house, and she stepped out on her porch and her eyes got wide!  I said, "You're welcome," and headed for my car feeling really good about myself.

As I was driving home, I saw the grumpy guy at Wilbeth & Virginia out picking up his trash.  I hesitated for a minute.  I thought about driving up to his house to tell him I wasn't with the City of Akron.  I'm pretty sure after thinking about it that he was harsh with me, because he thought I was going to send him a bill.  Maybe it has happened before.

I decided to forget about it.  If he thinks I'm from the City of Akron, maybe that's okay.  He picked up all the trash around his house, and there was a lot!

Whatever it takes, right?