As an outlet dedicated to making Philadelphia a more livable city, we welcomed the opportunity to participate Saturday in the city’s 4th annual Spring Cleanup. Our cleanup site consisted of eight neglected city blocks, a park, and a playground on Washington Avenue. Surveying the site with our photographer just days before the cleanup, I was reminded of the adage “it takes a village.”
Our crew of volunteers hailing from all across the city and beyond reported to the site Saturday morning ready to work and undeterred by the site’s condition. Throughout the day not one volunteer hesitated to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty. They waded through stagnant water in pursuit of Gatorade bottles and scaled fences to chase down wayward plastic bags. They collected assorted paper, every flavor of chip bag and candy bar you can imagine, and hundreds of cigarette butts. Our recycling bags were filled to the brim with plastic bottles, cans, and glass remants. Braver souls bagged dirty diapers and something flat and fuzzy that long ago exhausted its ninth life.
Also on hand to cleanup were City Council hopefuls Vern Anastascio, Sherrie Cohen, and Mark Squilla. While we remain politically unbiased, we praise these three candidates (and their staff) for their dedication to creating and supporting livable communities both in their districts in city-wide.
Because of the efficiency of the trash crew who picked up throughout the day, we could not get a total amount of collected bags, but even without this statistic, it is safe to say our cleanup site was improved exponentially on Saturday. Where litter once clung to the playground fence and covered the lawns of the ball fields there were clean concrete curbs, visible, safe walkways, and vibrant, green grass. And though the kids utilizing the fields barely raised an eyebrow at our cleanup crew, we can rest assured that their games are better played on clean surfaces.
Coming off the success of Saturday’s event, it would’ve been easy to be discouraged by the plastic bags and litter that found their way back onto our cleanup site just a day later. Instead, though, I considered my role in sustaining the neighborhood and picked up what I could for disposal.
There was no crew of volunteers to support me in this solo cleanup, no neighbor to smile in approval, only the gratification of knowing that my small contribution, if imitated consistently by every member of our village, could transform Philadelphia.
In addition to the tremendous efforts of our volunteers, the success of our cleanup is owed in part to our friends at Green Philly Blog, Urban Jungle, and Paddy Whacks Irish Pub for their generous support. A sincere thanks as well to our photographer, Chad Collier, whose “after” photos will be posted very soon.
