FPA Blog

Lots of Enthusiasm, Committed Volunteers, A Few Frayed Nerves

Ten cars in line at any given time, seven dumpsters overflowing in only four hours…this was the scene on Friday, October 14 when Forestville’s first ever “Clean Up Day” took place.

It all started with Board Member Kelly Percich wondering aloud at the September meeting whether we should have a “clean-up” day in the park. It didn’t seem like the park ever got dirty enough to warrant a lot of people coming to clean up, but what about a “Clean Up Day” for the town instead? Kelly’s idea took flight!

We mentioned our idea to the Trash Committee of the Lower Russian River MAC and they were the perfect people to champion this idea. Lisa Nahmanson, one of our amazing Forestville MAC representatives started the research. She filled out the paperwork with Recology to get a donation of the 7 dumpsters, arranged meetings to establish the best way to go about it and gently pushed the project forward.

Kelly created the flyer we posted through Nextdoor and put up around town. Her communication with all the people involved kept the ball rolling. She recruited many family members to show up and pitch in including her daughter who created the fun Tic Tok video.

Lucy painted signs and got them up around town. Other Board members were there as well. Nick came to the parking lot at 5 am to erect barriers to close off the lot for the day. Wayne spent all 4 hours directing traffic and communicating with the folks waiting in line. Ken showed up and I saw him helping folks unload their truck, even climbing on top of the dumpster to pile more on. The crew from Russian Riverkeepers, part of the afore mentioned Trash Committee, were a powerful force for good, handling tons of waste it seems.

They brought their passion and know-how with them. We couldn’t be more grateful for their advice and hands on plain hard work. Their fearless leader Carol Shumate led the way. With her experience cleaning up homeless encampments along the river she knew exactly what to do, plus she had a smile on her face the whole time! How does she do it?

“It takes a village” is a saying that’s become a bit worn out, however that saying proved very true in putting on this event. It was a village of committed volunteers showing up to do the work and dumpsters donated by Recology to haul all that stuff away. And many thanks to Sonoma Pizza for donating their delicious pizzas to our crew.

For our first ever Dump Day it was a success AND we learned a lot going forward. We’ve been asked to do another one this Spring. if we forget how sore we were on the day. Good Job FPA! You rock!

Upcoming waste dropoffs in the county:
November 1 , 2022
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)
Guerneville, By Appointment
https://zerowastesonoma.gov/calendar/event/6542/2022/11/01?locale=en

November 11 -13, 2022
Friday – Sunday, 9 AM – 5 PM
E-Waste* Recycling – Finley Park
Finley Park (Stony Point entrance)
2060 W College Ave, Santa Rosa
https://zerowastesonoma.gov/calendar/event/124604/

* Electronic (E-Waste) Waste Disposal
More info, scroll down for allowed/not allowed:
https://zerowastesonoma.gov/e-waste-disposal (Scroll Down)

Calendar – All Upcoming Events:
https://zerowastesonoma.gov/calendar