Aurora Ald. Edward Bugg said people are so eager to help out in the city’s 9th Ward they were calling or messaging him months beforehand to find out when the 12th annual Ward 9 Clean Up Day was going to be held.
“People are calling me in January asking me what day it’s going to be so they can put it on their calendar,” Bugg said of the event, which was held Saturday morning in the 9th Ward. “To me, it’s one of the great things about the community we live in.”
Volunteers Saturday morning met at the Eola Tennis Academy, 2390 S. Eola Road, where breakfast was donated by a local 7-Eleven and Big Apple Bagels, followed by local Scouts presenting the flag and leading the Pledge of Allegiance. The volunteers then went out to clean things up in the ward.
Bugg said the event, which usually draws between 150 and 200 volunteers, was launched over a decade ago after those in the ward noticed how unsightly things got after winter turned to spring. Over time, he said that Scout groups, sports teams, families and more have all gotten involved in a major way, helping to “create a sense of community as we’re doing this.”
“The genesis of this 12 years ago was we would have snow in March and then all of that melts and you have what’s left over,” he said. “Every year, the business district looked dilapidated and dirty when all that snow melted. That was kind of bothering all the residents and businesses in the area, so we decided to have a day to clean it up.”
Aurora Chief Communications and Equity Officer Clayton Muhammad was on hand at the event and noted there were other cleanup events going on as well Saturday in Aurora.
“We’ve seen with Earth Month a lot of our wards have hosted cleanup events or trash recycling. One is happening right now with Wards 2, 3, and 7 doing a combined one together,” he said on Saturday. “Ward 10 did one last week so in April as we get into the spring season, a lot of wards are doing this. As far the interest here, it has become a family affair and a way to teach kids civic responsibility.”
Bugg praised the entire city of Aurora for its generosity and efforts to support the event in the 9th Ward.
“We have well over 50 business sponsors who, together, have donated $10,000 worth of prizes,” Bugg said. “People get gift cards from restaurants. Our new ice cream business, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream on Eola, is giving out coupons for a free scoop. We also have some free athletic training session from D1, and Parkside Lanes is offering bowling parties – really a little bit of everything.”
“The donations that are being offered to volunteers is also in conjunction with our scholarship program,” Bugg added. “We encourage our applicants (for scholarships) to come and help clean out the area. Different business donate for the scholarships we give out in summer. Last year, we gave out 15 scholarships totaling almost $17,000.”
Work on Saturday began around 9 a.m. and lasted until 11:30 a.m., when lunch, prizes and some surprises were offered.
Travis Kinley of Aurora brought his daughter Dezire, 10, to the event.
“We live three blocks from here and we drive up and down the street all the time and see all the garbage on the street,” Kinley said. “So far from what I’ve seen, the amount of trash this year is about the same but afterwards you can really see a difference. We see people from other towns like Oswego as well. There are some great gifts too.”
Dezire said she was happy to come along, noting that “I don’t like cleaning my room, but it’s good to keep the world clean.”
“I also don’t want to stay home and be a coach potato,” she said.
Kristin Blood of Aurora said she has participated in the trash pick-up effort three times before and remembers some days that weren’t so warm.
“There have been times when it’s been downright frigid. I wanted to do this because it’s a great community feeling and it’s very pro-environment,” she said.
Tracie English, 17, a senior at Oswego East High School, came to the cleanup event with her 15-year-old brother Frank.
“We live right over here and I signed up for a scholarship for college,” Tracie said. “I applied for the Ward 9 scholarship. I knew that it was important to come out today and help the environment.”
Her brother said events like the one Saturday are important.
“I used to do some things involving clean-up when I was in elementary school,” he said. “I think this will be fun and you realize you are taking care of the place where you live.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
