On Saturday, October 3rd, our chapter kicked off the Halloween season with a cleanup campaign! Each board member invited two or three friends to volunteer and there ended up being 14 teen and 3 adult volunteers. We all dressed in orange and black -- check out the cool headbands two of our volunteers donned for the event -- to get in the spooky spirit.
The campaign took place in the forest preserves in Elmwood Park. We started in the Evans Field parking lot, then we walked along the Des Plaines River Trail and concluded in the Sunset Meadow parking lot. We were sponsored by Trader Joe’s in Oak Park for this cleanup. They kindly donated a few cases of water for the volunteers. The support was greatly appreciated by our board and our volunteers.
Our cleanup was kicked off with the creation of a … strange game. Several board members and volunteers stood in a large circle with their trash grabbers and one person threw a leaf into the air. The aim of the game was to catch the falling leaf with your grabber before it hit the ground. Most commonly, the players missed the leaf; however, it was a very entertaining way to pass the time while waiting for everyone to arrive.
We spent about 40 minutes cleaning up Evans Field, where many interesting treasures were uncovered. Our big group separated into several small groups and spread out across the field and the parking lot. One group found some spooky candles and potion bottles, which really set the mood for the afternoon. Some other strange things such as stop sign poles and animal feces were also found on this leg of the cleanup. After the 40 minutes, we had collected about 80 lbs of trash!
Audrey, Frankie, and two volunteers Edward and Charles pose for a picture while picking up trash in Evans Field.
The next part of the cleanup was along the Des Plaines River Trail. We stayed in our groups and walked through the trail and down by the river (safely, of course). This was the prettier part of the cleanup as we were all surrounded by gorgeous trees and wildlife. Some groups spotted deer in the woods! Also, there wasn’t as much trash on the trail so it was a nice break after the parking lot.
After walking through the trail, it was time to complete our cleanup in the Sunset Meadow parking lot. There was an overwhelming amount of trash there; it was shocking. Tons of cans, plastic bags, and McDonald’s containers were littered throughout the parking lot, but they were mostly hidden within the trees. The burrs that surrounded the trash were one of the biggest obstacles of the cleanup. Most of our volunteers went home absolutely covered in them.
The 45 minutes we had to clean up the parking lot weren’t nearly enough, even with our extra volunteer who decided to fill a trash bag during her visit to the forest preserve. Our board decided that the Sunset Meadow parking lot would be a great place to return for a future cleanup, so stay tuned for more information!
After our two and a half hours of picking up trash in the forest preserve, we gathered around the drop-off spot to count the total. A forest preserve police officer stuck around to hear the total and enjoy a bottle of Trader Joe’s water. All of the volunteers guessed how much trash we had picked up in the parking lot, and a board member’s guess of 115 lbs was the closest. In the 45 minutes of cleaning up the parking lot, we had collected 115.7 lbs of trash. This brought us to a total of about 195 lbs of trash from the entire cleanup!
Our chapter’s second cleanup was a success! Being around friends and in nature made the cleanup a great start to spooky season. Happy Halloween!
Thanks for the sponsor, Trader Joe’s!
Want to host your own cleanup campaign?
It doesn't matter if you're looking for a group service project or an individual contribution, we can help! Email us at cugb.oprf@gmail.com !