When it comes to neighbors diggings in together to keep the sparkle on the Emerald City, community clean-up efforts make a big difference. And two in particular stand out for their easy of all-family participation and their consistent presence: Green Lake Litter Patrol and the West Seattle-based Block Drop program. Both programs were created after someone saw a need and decided to step up and address it.
Block Drop
Brothers and West Seattleites, Erik and Garet Bell, had a long-standing date on Saturdays. The two would meet to walk in their Alki neighborhood, picking up trash as they went. As Erik Bell discovered, that simple act was not only beneficial to the neighborhood, but also provided a mental boost — a boost that has blossomed over the years into thousands of neighbors helping to keep Alki beautiful through the organization A Cleaner Alki.
Erik Bell’s daughter, Evelyn, also caught the cleanup bug, which is why several years ago she and two other members of her Girl Scout Cadettes troop 40149 — Paige Dempsey and Emma Kelley — created A Cleaner Alki’s Block Drop program. Their goal? To make cleanups in Alki and in other Seattle neighborhoods incredibly easy:
Simply show up at a designated location, grab a garbage pick-up stick and trash bucket, choose a direction, and walk, nabbing bits of garbage as you go. No supervision, no fuss.
Wherever you see a Block Drop sign and equipment, you’re invited to join the effort, participating for as long (or as short) a time as you like. Volunteers return to the Block Drop equipment sites to collect the trash.
As Emma Kelley has said: “What really makes the Block Drop work is the community coming out and joining in.”
Green Lake Litter Patrol
Across the city, a group of dedicated volunteers is similarly focused on Green Lake. Local broker G. Todd Young founded the Green Lake Litter Patrol in 2012 to help keep one of Seattle’s most popular walking spots glistening.
Since then, volunteers have logged more than 10,000 hours picking up trash — with a focus on clearing “micro trash.”
Microtrash are very small, easy to overlook, pieces of waste that are harmful to wildlife and the environment. Each week, the volunteers meet for a 2-hour walk-and-pick session with an eye out for tiny plastics, cigarette butts and other broken down bits.
Green Lake Litter Patrol volunteers range from preschoolers and their parents to seniors. And, the group particularly welcomes students required to do community service as part of meeting their educational requirements.
Learn how to you and your kids can help: byandby.org (Block Drop) and greenlakelitterpatrol.com
