KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
When you look down at a sidewalk in an American metropolis – like New York City – you’re likely to see more of these objects than you would in Kodiak. Gum wrappers, napkins, soda cans, all of the garbage that falls out of pockets or is tossed out car windows.
Kodiak has a large enough population to leave its litter mark, but a strong enough community to clean it up. That sense of civic duty is what organizers are banking on for Saturday’s Community Clean-Up Day.
Over the roughly thirty years it’s been going on, Ken Reinke of Threshold Services says the number of volunteers has dropped.
“We’d love to try and figure out how to increase participation because, sunny days, people sometimes find other things to do, and I love being out picking up the street and seeing my friends go by in their cars, but we’d love to see great participation this year ‘cause the weather does look like it’s gonna be really good.”
Reinke says volunteers can sign up to clean one area in particular if they have a preference, and organizers also need individual volunteers, like swampers, who collect the garbage bags and hoist them into trucks.
Interested community members can contact Threshold Services or the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce if they want to help out. They can also just show up Saturday at the high school parking lot from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
