KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL CLEVELAND CLEAN UP!

 

I was so excited to drive to Cleveland and be part of the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup.  

We were supposed to meet at Wendy Park at 10:00.  (Wendy Park is right beside Edgewater Park.  I had never been to either one.)

I got there at 9:30.  Michael Mennett, Executive Director of Keep Ohio Beautiful, was the only one there.  I had never met him before.  He was very nice.  I hope I can work with him again.

It was extremely cold (wind chill 36 degrees,) but it was a beautiful day.   No rain.

As we waited for more people to show up, we both noticed there was NO TRASH!  Why would we be sent to clean up a park that was already cleaned up?   That made no sense to either of us.

I noticed the trash cans right away.  What a great idea to lift them off the ground so they wouldn't blow over. 

The park was clean, and the trash cans were clean too!  I was totally impressed!  Cleveland MetroParks does a great job.

When everyone arrived, there were eight of us altogether.  Leslie, from Keep America Beautiful, was bubbling with enthusiasm. A representative from Coco Cola seemed happy to be part of the event.  A woman from Pittsburg was so much fun, and she had a photographer with her that just kept snapping pictures!  She must have taken enough pictures for a book!  She kept us laughing as she crawled around in the mud taking pictures!  Everybody was so nice.

We found some trash at the water's edge.  I managed to pick up 672 pieces, mostly Styrofoam chunks, plastic straws and water bottle caps.  I also found a couple needles and lots of dental floss picks.  

Litter that is  thrown onto the streets and sidewalks ends up in our lakes and streams.  Wow!  How sad is that?

 

Together, we cleaned up all the trash we could find on the beach.  

Everybody seemed to like my trash cart and my little buckets.  And they loved the idea of counting pieces.  It really is a great way to stay focused and not quit when you get tired.

My customer service person, Kristin, and her little boy, came to help.  It was so nice to see them both.  Sad there wasn't more for them to do.  It seemed even colder when there wasn't a lot to do.

I was afraid she wouldn't show up since it was so cold.  Thank you, Kristin!

And guess who else showed up?  Maya Lockett from Channel 5 News!  

She interviewed everybody, so I'll be on the news again!  But this time, it won't be all about me.  It'll be about cleaning up the City of Cleveland in anticipation of hundreds of thousands of visitors for the total eclipse.

This news story will air on Sunday.  You will be able to see how delightful all these people were.  What an honor it was for me to meet them!

I came home and took the dogs to the park.  Then I went back out to pick up more trash.  

You will LOVE my next post!  The pictures are really good!