Saturday’s rain forced the annual Brandywine Red Clay Alliance cleanup to be a day late. But, considering Sunday was Palm Sunday and cold, the number of volunteers was roughly halved, according to BRCA’s Executive Director and CEO Jim Jordan.
Jordan said Sunday the organization doesn’t plan rain dates, but Saturday’s rain made walking along the roadways and creek too dangerous. So, Sunday it was. But the normal number of volunteers was down from the usual 700 or 800, to a little more than 300.
And while the turnout was less than usual, those who did show up cleaned up 104 sections along areas of the Red Clay Creek from East Marlborough Township and into Delaware. In addition to cleaning up roads and the creek, volunteers also take care of cleaning litter from parks, such as Anson B. Nixon Park and Pennock Park in Kennett Square and several preserves.
Jordan said the alliance doesn’t measure success but the number of bags or tons of trash and litter, but how the roads and creek look after the volunteers are finished.
“I would rate success as when I drive the roads tomorrow morning and I don’t see all the littler. We like to drive the roads and see no trash. But the second thing is education,” he said. “You bring a child out here and once they spend four hours picking up somebody else’s trash, that child is never going to throw a piece of trash out the window again. So, it’s a two-fold mission.”
Charles Shattuck, the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Hockessin, concurs with Jordan about the educational value. He said he started bringing his son, now in his 30s, out for the cleanup when the boy was very young and he still comes out with his wife and young daughter.
Shattuck also jokes about what to call the clean-up effort.
“I told Jim [Jordan] that we should call it ‘Picking up other people’s trash since 1988.’”
There are some odd things that people toss out. One year volunteers found pieces of a motorcycle in various locations. A tire here, a handlebar there, a seat and frame elsewhere. In all, almost the entire bike was tossed out in pieces.
This year, volunteers from Phillips Mushrooms found four purses near Hartefeld Golf Course. They were each filled with paperwork, and one contained a U.S. passport. The purses and passport were taken to the police in Kennett Township.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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