Annual Clean-Up Builds Community
By: Kathryn Fenstermacher
A golden sun rose on a balmy, cloudless morning last Saturday. The air hummed with the sound of mowers, as neighbors got an early start on yard work. Others took to the sidewalks with their dogs for a morning walk. In every corner of Hartford City, people were finding reasons to get outside and take advantage of the spring weather. For many, participating in Saturday’s community clean-up was the perfect opportunity to do some good while enjoying the day.
The approximately 50 residents of Hartford City and the surrounding community who participated in the clean-up first headed to Oxley’s Corner where an empty flatbed truck sat out front, ready to receive the day’s pickings. Members of the Hartford City Urban Forest Greenscape Commission handed out grabber tools, yellow vests, bags, and buckets to eager participants, many of whom stopped by Amazing Glaze bakery on their way through town to redeem coupons from the Greenscape Commission for a little sweet sustenance to fuel their day ahead.
From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., residents could be seen roaming Hartford City, two by two or in larger groups, picking up litter as part of the city’s annual community clean-up in celebration of Earth Day. Approximately 2,000 pounds of trash were collected as part of Saturday’s efforts, according to street superintendent Jeff Wallace.
Many participants brought their whole family to participate. Nick Barry, a Blackford County resident, was cleaning up a green space next to Zion Lutheran Church with his wife and two sons. This was their fourth year volunteering. “We want to make the city look more attractive to the people who live here and come here,” Barry said. “As long as the community looks better, and people have more pride in it, I think that’s the objective.”
He picked up a disposable face mask with his grabber and held it up. “We’re seeing more and more of these,” he said.
Participants in the clean-up broadly agreed that litter accumulation in the city leaves a negative impression on guests and prospective residents. That includes new businesses, according to Ron Dudelston, District 4 City Council Member, who was gingerly picking up shards of glass at the site of a former railway line behind Ecowater Systems. “We’ve got to attract business, and this is opportunity number one,” he said.
It was obvious why Dudelston and his group chose to focus on this area of town. “Look around,” he said, indicating styrofoam cups, pop cans, and cardboard boxes heaped upon the new spring grass. A yellow plastic bag was snagged in a nearby tree branch, fluttering in the breeze.
Dudelston pointed out that while the community clean-up day can have a positive effect on the litter problem, community members don’t need to limit their efforts to one day out of the year. “It doesn’t have to just be this day, you can come anytime,” he said.
A few blocks north, director of Build a Better Blackford (BBB) Jon Creek was managing a clean-up effort of his own in conjunction with the event. With the help of student volunteers from Taylor University, Creek and other BBB members were raking leaves, cutting back brush, and mowing grass around the property of a disabled resident who hadn’t been able to maintain the yard since suffering a severe case of COVID-19.
One of BBB’s goals is to enhance the look of the community by improving or removing dilapidated homes in Blackford County, focusing on properties that are located on main highways like Route 3. Creek said that they don’t usually have such a large attendance for their cleanup projects. “This is a job that could use a lot of people,” Creek said, “so it’s great having some volunteers to help.”
One of the helpers was Savannah Kidd, a senior human physiology and preventive medicine major at Taylor University. Kidd said that being part of The Invitation Program, Taylor’s community-facing health and wellness clinic located on Jefferson Street, has made her want to be more involved in the Hartford City community. “I hope that by having some Taylor students here, we can try to build more of a community between [Taylor] and the surrounding areas,” she said.
Around noon, hungry participants began making their way back to Oxley’s Corner, where Greenscape Commission volunteers dished out complimentary hot dogs and barbecue sandwiches with all the trimmings, courtesy of Commissioner John Oxley, who looked on from his golf cart parked out front. The Greenscape Commission had set up a table to give away leftover saplings, milkweed plants, and flower seeds from the Arbor Day celebration the day before.
City Council Member Dustin George pulled up with the last load of trash collected from the morning’s efforts. George said that he was pleased with the turnout and the amount of litter collected. “A simple litter clean-up does much more for a community than simply collecting trash,” he said.
George cited statistics that a tidy community has been proven to improve mental health and increase overall mood, not to mention the environmental and economic benefits. “We all want more investment in our community,” he said. “I strongly believe we have made a lot of progress, but there is much more to be done.”
George and his team tossed the last few bags precariously into the back of the truck, which now held not only bags of trash, but also plastic totes, furniture, mattresses, even a small swimming pool. Old tires were stacked on the asphalt. A garden snake emerged from the mountain of rubbish and eyed the crowd warily. It was as if the earth had spoken, “It’s time to head home.”
An unexpected visitor slithers out of the trash heap. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Fenstermacher.
