I HAD TO FACE MY FEARS!!!

 

At the end of my session yesterday, I discovered this awful mess between Wooster Road and First Street in Barberton.  You couldn't see it from the sidewalk, but if you walked that way, you would hold your nose as you walked by!  I think the homeless people use this area for a bathroom.  So gross!

So I asked the Mayor of Barberton and Main Street Barberton what I should do.  Melanie said I could clean it.  The Mayor replied immediately and told me if I could get the bags over to First Street, he would have them picked up.

I had all night to think about this.  I dreamed about snakes!  Where there are layers of trash, there's mice.  Where there's mice, there's snakes.  Ick!!!

But I drover over after work and got busy.

Look at it now!  Woo hoo!  There were no mice!  There were no snakes.  Just a lot of sticks and disgusting garbage.   It smelled so bad, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stand it.

There were lots of sticks and branches behind the fence, so I moved the ones here over there.  They don't look bad there, and the City will probably clean them up, or they'll go away on their own.

I'm so proud of myself!  This was a project I was actually afraid of.  But I didn't let my fear stop me from trying.

I was there two hours and picked up 1,182 pieces of everything you can imagine. 

And I made myself a rake!  A real rake would have worked so much better, but I got it done.

Directly across from that area, I saw trash, and discovered it was a bunch of porcelain Christmas dishes.  

I felt bad they were all broken.

I did what the Mayor asked me to do, and I carried all those bags to First Street.  That was probably harder than cleaning up all the trash!  The bags were super heavy, and you can see where my car is.  That's how far I had to carry them.

I deliberately used clear bags so anyone walking by knows what's in them.  Hopefully, they won't get ripped open before they are picked up. 

I was heading back to my car, and I saw something in the road at the next intersection.  I walked over there, and in the road, someone had thrown bagels!  Oh my goodness they smelled good!  I think they were blueberry bagels!

A motorcycle dude was driving by, and he hooped and hollered at me for picking stuff off the road.   He was going very slow, but still, it could have been a bunch of rocks.  Hard to see when you're driving.

I love Barberton!  Every now and then, I'll find big messes like this, but most of the time, there's very little to pick up.  If I keep chipping away at it, every street in Barberton will be clean. 

That will make Melanie who runs Main Street Barberton very happy!

(To anyone interested, her monthly cleanup is this Saturday at 8:00.)