TODAY WAS ALL ABOUT THE DOLLAR STORES!

 

After taking yesterday off, I decided to tackle the three Dollar Stores in Firestone Park, all in one session!  Whew!  I've never done that before.

The first one at Main & Mapledale had this trash bag hanging on a post in the parking lot.  I wasn't sure if it was a Halloween decoration or their attempt at having a trash can.  

It was their attempt at having a trash can, and it really helped.  I only picked up 1,057 pieces in one hour.  That was still a lot of trash, but a big improvement over the mess it usually is.

Behind their dumpster was a big mess, but it wasn't a disgusting mess, so I cleaned it all up.

It looks really nice now.  All those plastic bags would have blown all over town!

After I finished that, I cleaned the parking lot and down the sidewalk in front of the store.  A man was getting out of his car, and he said, "Oh, how wonderful!  Keep America Beautiful!!!"

Isn't that funny?  Most people think I'm a volunteer with Keep Akron Beautiful, but he just skipped right up to the top.

(I consider myself a volunteer for both, so it was fine.)

At the back of the building, they had their big cardboard carts laying down to block the homeless people from living in the corner.  I was so happy to see that!

I climbed over the wall and cleaned up the corner, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it usually is.

I left that Dollar Store and headed to the next one.  I saw this pile of trash at a stop sign.  It looked like somebody tried to pick up the trash, but didn't quite get rid of it.

I pulled over and picked up 50 pieces of trash on all four corners.

And at the corner of my street and Beardsley, I saw a child's swing of some kind.  Who would heave that out the window?  Maybe it fell off a pickup truck.  Who knows?

I stopped and picked that up.

I really think this is what it's all about . . . picking up trash when you see it.  Just a few pieces here and there makes a big difference.

Anybody can do that.

I went to the second Dollar Store at Main & Wilbeth and picked up 469 pieces on all four corners in 35 minutes.  Easy peasy!  (Easy because I just cleaned it last week.)

Then I headed to the last Dollar Store on Waterloo Road.  I picked up 813 pieces here in 45 minutes.  

A woman pulled into the parking lot. She was wearing a Dollar Store uniform.  She asked me if I worked at the Dollar Store.  Isn't that a strange question?  Seems like if she worked at the Dollar Store, she would know if I was one of her coworkers, don't you think?  I told her my story, and she was very nice.

Two summers ago, I picked up a few thousand pieces of trash in this field beside the Dollar Store.  Today, I picked up a few dozen pieces!  How crazy is that?  Either people are helping, or people aren't littering as much because it looks so beautiful clean.

Today was a wonderful day!  I picked up 2,389 pieces altogether, but what a difference it made.