Despite a late-season blast of wintry weather, the debut of H-F Spring Cleanup Day still saw a significant amount of litter collected from area roadways and school properties. Led by the H-F Area Green Committee, the cleanup day Saturday, March 17, encouraged local residents to volunteer by picking up trash and improving areas at designated sites around the Flossmoor area.
As Ed Konrath of Flossmoor dumps small gravel, Yoka Ward of Homewood spreads it out to shore up steps at Irons Oaks. Both volunteered for the Area Green Committee Spring Cleanup. Despite cold weather, Irons Oaks was one of the planned projects that was completed. (Photos by Mary Compton/H-F Chronicle)
Despite a late-season blast of wintry weather, the debut of H-F Spring Cleanup Day still saw a significant amount of litter collected from area roadways and school properties. Led by the H-F Area Green Committee, the cleanup day Saturday, March 17, encouraged local residents to volunteer by picking up trash and improving areas at designated sites around the Flossmoor area.
Justus Zillman of Flossmoor, Christian and Donica Vanhoorhees along with Meegan Zillman clean up the Flossmoor Road and Kedzie Avenue area during the Area Green Committee Spring Cleanup.
Dozens of individual residents and groups signed up to volunteer, but then woke up to sub-par weather conditions on the day of the event.
“Saturday morning we woke up and there was snow on the ground,” said Maggie Bachus, chair of the Flossmoor Community Relations Commission, and a founder of the village’s Green Commission. “They had said it was supposed to be 50 degrees and sunny.”
Bachus decided to reschedule her portion of the project, which involved picking up litter around Parker Junior High, to Sunday to avoid having her young volunteers working outdoors in the snow and cold. Unfortunately, she lost some volunteers because of the postponement but the small remaining group still managed to pick up a good amount of trash, Bachus said.
Karen Shaw of Flossmoor works to put gravel on steps at Irons Oaks in Olympia Fields during the Area Green Committee Spring Cleanup.
“I love the concept of the H-F cleanup day,” she said. “This is the time of year to do it, after the snow melts and before everything gets to be flourishing, before the trees and shrubs and grass come in and cover (the garbage) up.”
She and her young volunteers, including two high school students and two junior high students, enthusiastically filled five garbage bags with litter from around the school. It took them about an hour.
Tyler Thompson, a member of the Flossmoor Green Commission, also delayed the start of his cleanup project, but only until later on Saturday. He was mostly concerned about the safety of his adult volunteers as they picked up garbage on an icy Kedzie Avenue and Flossmoor Road that morning. After the weather warmed a bit, the volunteers who remained set to work picking up whatever they could.
Among the typical water bottles and cigarette butts, Thompson said the group also retrieved a shopping cart and a bumper. Thompson said he was not surprised by the amount of litter collected, unfortunately.
“I anticipated this much trash. It was bad. It’s very disheartening,” he said. “I know it’s always worse in the spring after all the snow in the winter months. It’s a problem; people just don’t care.”
Educating younger citizens about the importance of a clean community free from litter is the best step toward changing habits over the long haul, Thompson said. His own daughter reminds him to recycle and otherwise act in an eco-conscious manner.
Bachus said environmental education is critical among young people. The cleanup day coincided with the end of a kindness program at Western Avenue Elementary. On Friday, the day before cleanup, Bachus and some students from H-F High School visited Western Avenue students to encourage them to be kind to the environment.
They also watched videos about “plogging,” an eco-conscious fitness trend popular in Sweden in which runners pick up trash along their paths. Bachus said the students were intrigued by the idea and surprised that they, too, could do such a thing. It only takes these examples and ideas to change behavior, she said. She sees inspiration out her own front window.
“I’ve been seeing this guy running through my neighborhood in the morning. He wears a headlamp and he’s running and picking up garbage,” Bachus said. “There are people out there doing this.”
