In the woods behind Edison Johnson Recreation Center, a hint of yellow stood out amid the cedars. A man in a neon vest climbed across a fallen tree over Ellerbe Creek to retrieve a plastic bottle.
“It’s actually fun!” he called out with a grin, shimmying his way to the other side of the creek.
If you braved the cold on Monday, Jan. 20, you may have passed by groups of Durhamites armed with trash grabbers and thick gloves. The nonprofit Keep Durham Beautiful partnered with local schools and centers to organize six Jan. 20 clean-ups (as well as four other events throughout the week) as part of Durham’s tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
At 10 a.m., volunteers in warm winter coats and colorful woolen hats gathered at the Branches Community School on Broad Street in the Walltown neighborhood. In the preschool’s courtyard, about 50 Walltown residents — young and old, Black and white — surrounded Melissa Amoabeng, the head of the school, as she described the plan for the morning. She told the group to be mindful of volunteers from other groups, noting that they would probably cross paths.
Theresa Newman, who arrived with her friend Deborah Hylton, was attending the trash pickup event for the second year in a row.
“We talk about the Santa Claus-ification of MLK, and often we celebrate him today but we don’t pay attention to his principles the rest of the year,” said Newman, a retired Duke Law professor. “We both live by his principles and this is our way to help Durham.”
Quianna Lewis, Keep Durham Beautiful’s representative at the Walltown cleanup, also was happy to be on hand.
“We know what this day represents, being a day of service and knowing that Dr. King was about helping others, and people are inclined to be of service today,” Lewis said. “If any day, it would be today, right?”
After hearing the day’s instructions and buckling up their vests, small groups of volunteers scattered and immediately began collecting pieces of litter as small as bottle caps and cigarette butts from the streets surrounding the preschool. With a trash grabber in one hand and pushing a stroller with the other, a mother walked toward 9th Street. Her young son, a preschool student at Branches, jumped out of his seat, eager to contribute; she then taught him how to maneuver the grabber.
Behind Edison Johnson Recreation Center, the cleanup along Ellerbe Creek was in full swing by late morning. Some two dozen volunteers fanned along the path, fetchingcans, cardboard scraps and other waste from the stream and collecting debris between leaves and branches. Ian Pond, a founder of the Friends of Ellerbe Creek group, worked alongside them.
For Pond, the MLK Day cleanup was a continuation of a passion project that goes back to 2008. Pond, along with about 20 fellow Durhamites, goes to Edison Johnson weekly to retrieve trash out of the creek. Pond and Mike Shiflett, another group founder, condensed the collected litter into large trash bags. According to the Friends of Ellerbe Creek Facebook group, the volunteers collected 24 bags of trash on Monday.
The day’s turnout also proved that service knows no age. Children as young as four and five joined their parents and older community members, wielding trash grabbers larger than themselves.
Wading together in about six inches of murky water, two young boys laughed as their father pulled up an oblong white piece of plastic from Ellerbe Creek. Smiling, he handed the object to his son, who carefully placed it alongside the row of waste bags lining the bank.
The final math was impressive. According to Dawn Keyser, program director for Keep Durham Beautiful Program, some 300 volunteers took part, collecting 3,659 pounds of trash.
Above: About 300 volunteers turned out to clean up Durham streets, creeks and sidewalks during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, including a portion of Ellerbe Creek. Photos by Kulsoom Rizavi — The 9th Street Journal
