Today we worked with an organization called Riverlink. We were able to work along the Swannanoa River collecting trash and cleaning up the river bank. We arrived this morning at the Riverlink offices where Adam, an AmeriCorps worker and the volunteer coordinator, explained the mission of Riverlink. Riverlink works to make sure the greenways along the French Broad River and tributaries like the Swannanoa are clean and safe places for people to use and enjoy.
After Adam’s presentation, we headed over to the greenway where we began collecting trash. After arriving it began raining, and continued raining, and raining, and raining. By the end of the day we were all completely drenched, but had huge smiles on our faces. We had collected around 45 bags of trash and the river was visibly cleaner. It was a bit discouraging to see how much trash people are just tossing into both the greenways and the river, so to visibly make an impact on the area was really rewarding. As we reflected tonight, we discussed what we can do both locally and nationally in order to keep areas like this safer and healthier. Keeping our local parks and watersheds clean and healthy for people to use is something that we can focus on in Springfield, and it is something I want to take part in when I get back.