As part of Oregon’s Earth Day activities, volunteers came together to spruce up their town for SOLVE- IT in Sandy.

The April 21 event attracted 103 volunteers who went to work cleaning up the parks, trails and public areas – including illegal dumpsite cleanup, invasive plant removal and lots of litter pick up – guided by coordinator Nancy Enabnit.

The volunteers came prepared with their buckets and gloves, pruners and
rakes, ready to roll up their sleeves and get on with the dirty business of
cleaning it all up.

“I’m pleased to report that there is not as much garbage as last year,”
volunteer Sandy Bernhardt said, wielding a picker-upper on patrol along
Pioneer Boulevard. “And last year we had to pick up stuff from gutters and
along the street. We’re not having to do as much of that this year. Maybe the
property owners are picking up more trash around their buildings.”

Bernhardt has volunteered for Solve-It in Sandy for the past three years, and
she does it because she likes to see “a clean downtown.”

Volunteer Heidi Wammack, Bernhardt’s sidekick for the day’s clean-up effort,
swept her way along Pioneer with a broom. “It’s cool to see folks pitching in
and picking up trash,” Wammack said. “I’ve found some pretty interesting
stuff though, a hat, a sock, a towel. The worst part though is the cigarette
butts left littered around on the sidewalk.”

Sandy’s Code Enforcement Officer Kevin Moody volunteered with the Solve It
effort by tidying up the bus shelters in the downtown area along with other
police officers. Some unsightly tagging inside a bus shelter was quickly
removed with a spray can.

It is estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of trash was picked up during the
day’s activities. An astonishing four tons of paper was shredded with a
commercial shredder at the Community Center – four times more shredding
than last year.

Solve It clean up events occurred in 200 sites this year across Oregon during
the Earth Day weekend, and thanks to a multitude of local volunteers, a
spruced up Sandy is in spring-like shape.