| Tuesday June 13th, 2006 |
| FMR Wins Make a Difference Day Award! |
From USA Weekend.com
Extreme volunteering: Daring urban river cleanup
-Milwaukee
Working along 75-foot-tall, overgrown riverbanks in freezing drizzle, amid clumps of dead fish, is no treat.
Grappling with 6 tons of trash, including scrapped shopping carts, bikes, tires, a wheelchair -- even a
15-foot-long, snaking guardrail -- is no treat, either.
But it is a treat to have a clean river in your neighborhood. That's what 80 Milwaukee South Side residents
of all ages -- half of whom were first-time volunteers -- learned on Make A Difference Day.
"The difference is staggering,"
says Derek Dunn, 24, who researched Make A Difference Day online and helped organize the Kinnickinnic River
cleanup through Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers. "This massive effort was the community coming out and reclaiming its river."
The work took heart as well as muscle. This particular waterway bisects two blue-collar communities -- one mostly
white, the other Hispanic; the united effort forged new friendships. The area also marks the point where the riverbed
changes from concrete to a natural bottom.
Concrete channelization fuels flash flooding, which carries with it more garbage, erosion and drowning risk.
"The backs of the community have historically been turned on the Kinnickinnic," says Ben Gramling, of Sixteenth Street
Community Health Center, which recruited helpers from the predominately Hispanic community it serves. "That day,
residents saw what was going on, stopped by in their cars, asked questions and were
exposed to this activity, which really was quite foreign. It was part of a huge first step -- raising awareness that the river
is even there."
$10,000 Make A Difference Day Award from Paul Newman benefits Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers.
|
| Article Posted by Administrator - No Comments |
|
