I Love a Good Hardworking Group

I worked more than usual this week in order to accompany a lovely church group who was taking part in The Timothy Project. The Timothy Project is a project that puts church groups with non-profit organizations, and together the two do whatever is needed in order to build a better community. This week I worked with Aiken's First Baptist Church Group, from Aiken, South Carolina. I did not expect such a large group to come up to work with us, but I was happy with the diversity in the age range, and the diversity in personalities. They were all friendly, lovely, and driven people who helped us clean up the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers.

For the first day, we had them clean the river, the second we cleared space for a community garden (which included clearing invasive species and picking up trash), and then for the final two days were river clean ups. After the first river clean up, there were people who were excited to do it again later on, because they had to work with a non-profit organization twice at most. There were even some people who wished they could do it more than twice.

What I really enjoyed about this group was that they knew how to get stuff done. They cleaned so much from the rivers, and I was impressed by the amount of tires they managed to help pull out, which was way more than any other group that I have worked with (about thirty tires total in one day). There were gas tanks from cars pulled out, a mattress, and even a toilet. I am surprised with some of the interesting things these people helped pulled out, and I was really impressed with their integrity. There was no drama, and no fuss. They were all around a five out of five volunteer group.

One of them even sharpened some of our knives, how nice!

There's a Snake in my Boat

On wednesday Aiken's First Baptist Church returned with a large group we went down the French Broad River looking for trash to dig up. This group was very enthusiastic and by the time we had reached the first drop-off spot they had collected chaisse lounges and old washing machines that people had left to sink into the mud.

We regrouped at the drop-off spot (called Zen Tubing) for a quick lunch and then quickly departed once more down the river. Before we had gotten very far, however, Conor and I stopped at small bank to dig up a rather entrenched tire. After struggling with the task for at least five minutes we managed to use our shovels as a wedge with which to pull out the tire. We were then confronted with an even more difficult chore, getting the tire from the bank and into our boat. We had done this a few times with other tires, which had been heavy but capable of being lifted. This tire, however, was filled with thick mud and roots at every spot, making it far heavier than it had been before. In order to make it lighter we began using our hands to dig out the mud, which turned out to be a pretty good idea. We were soon able to lift the tire into our boat, only to see a long snake slither out of the mud in the tire. It appeared that this snake had been lying inside the mud and we had released it with our digging. The snake began moving around our boat as if it was attempting to find a way from which to escape; Conor and I merely stood there trying to figure out how to get the snake out, for neither of us were brave enought to reach in and pick the snake up. Finally, two members from the church came around and apparently had no problem with snakes. They quickly grabbed the snake and three it onto the bank, where it safely slithered away. -Gmo

River Clean Up Season

It's summer time! So that means it's time for Asheville GreenWorks to put their canoes in the water and dig out some trash. The season is really kicking it off, picking up a lot of trash and tires from the Swannanoa River and the French Broad River.

On Saturday, I picked up so many tires, that I had to straddle a big tire in between my legs as I rowed the canoe to the spot where we would take out (and where I would then become comfortable again). I noticed many people (who were just tubing for fun) would look over at me and smile and laugh, but I did not think much of it. My attitude towards clean-ups has molded into one that follows a motto, "Leave No Tire Behind."

Today I was with Aiken First Baptist Church Group (from Aiken, South Carolina), and with some of the Asheville GreenWorks staff, a number total of thirteen people were on the river. It was a big group but I enjoyed pulling out a mattress out of the river with them. They were all very nice, and helped clean up and put the canoes away (which to me means a lot).

A common occurrence that I have seen happen time and time again is that people will look at all the trash we would either be hauling at that moment or look at all of the trash that we put in a collective pile, then glance over at us, and genuinely tell us "Thank you." It keeps me energized and motivated to keep going, even when I am feeling out of it. The power of gratitude is a great thing.

I'm excited to see what else happens during the week.

Written by Stephanie Menjivar
Photographs by Eric Bradford

A Perfectly GreenWorks Start to Summer Vacation

My last day at school was three days ago. My motive to get through final exams was that summer would be on the other side, which for me, of course, means hauling tires out of a river with the gang. It wasn't long before I was reminded what summer was all about.

Eric texted me last night and let me know to show up the next morning in clothes that could get wet. I knew what that meant. Stephanie and I shoved off at about 11:00 with only a camera, a roll of trash bags, and a mission - we were to float from the office a few miles north to some park we were relatively certain started with a "w", bagging what trash we could and gathering photo evidence of what we couldn't for some poor volunteers (probably us again...) to get later on. However, we didn't really know how long of a trip we were in for or even what the park was supposed to look like.

Within minutes, we came upon several big patches of the bank strewn with bits and pieces of tires, clothes, and intriguingly inscrutable scraps of plastic and rusted metal. Stephanie and I hopped out and started picking up trash, but after retrieving two tires and filling a whole trash bag, we took a step back and saw a bank that didn't look noticeably cleaner. Concluding that this would be a job for a bigger group, we got back in the boat and continued on as before, taking a few pictures here and there and picking trash out of the mud in a handful of other places that caught our eye.

After a while of this, we began to suppose that surely we should be done soon. We saw a sign for Zen Tubing, so we paddled over and asked the people there if they knew how long it was to where we were headed. They kindly told us they had no idea. Stephanie called Eric, who said that we were in fact headed to Woodfin, which made us a solid third of the way through our voyage. Wonderful.

As one leaves Asheville, the French Broad starts to get decidedly swifter and rockier. There were multiple occasions over the next couple of hours that I wouldn't have bet on us making it out right side up, but somehow we kept ourselves and our precious trash inside the boat. We eventually came upon what was certainly a park. Whether it was the right park was a little more questionable, but we were too relieved to be back on solid ground to worry over details. We called Eric up and he came not long after and helped us load everything into the pickup. All that remained was for us to hop in the back and ride back to the office, all the while trying to hold the boat in and pray we wouldn't all slide overboard off the open bed.

It's gonna be a good summer.

The New Intern in Town

Hello! My name is Stephanie Menjivar, and I am from Encino, California. I go to college at Warren Wilson College as a Biomathematics major and I hope to go abroad and do wildlife conservation work in the future. My philosophy in life is to go with what you believe in, and then give as much as you can.

At Asheville GreenWorks I work as the Assistant Volunteer Coordinator as a part of the Bonner Internship Program, so I work with Eric Bradford when it comes to the preparation and the execution of events, so a lot of the people who volunteer will see me around a lot! I'm very excited working with everyone here, and despite how exhausting the work can be, I could not be more than happy to be working here. As Asheville approaches to become a greener city, there is still a lot that needs to be done, and Asheville GreenWorks actively keeps the city in that momentum, which motivated me to be a part of that action.

If anyone is interested in learning about my experience here at Asheville GreenWorks, please follow my blog at: http://environmentaladventures.tumblr.com/

The Man in the Yellow Vest

Who is this guy and why is he in that trash can??

Over the last 4 years lots of folks have seen the "Man in the Yellow Vest" digging through trash cans Downtown Asheville. His name is Bob DuRivage and we're proud to call him one of our Volunteers.

Bob's a passionate recycler and spends hours each week sorting out recyclables in the downtown garbage cans. Retired and fed up with our lack of adequate recycling receptacles. Bob took it upon himself one afternoon to sort out a couple trash cans, it's been his routine ever since.

Recently Bob's been sidelined from a knee injury from his many years of competitive tennis. But don't distress, Bob will be back in action soon. The next time you see him tearing through a can for that miss placed plastic water bottle, please take a moment to say "hello".

Interested in helping out with downtown recycling while Bob recovers? 

email: volunteer@ashevillegreenworks.org and Say "I'll take a shift for Bob"

Plastic Lifestyle

After several river cleanups with Asheville GreenWorks, I was shocked by what the team found in the Swannanoa River, Hominy Creek, and French Broad River. It was concrete evidence that our rivers and streams are the "dispose-all" for the earth. Most trash was intentional, like a shopping cart, pipes, radios, beer cans, and the endless amount of car tires. But some trash seemed unintentional, like plastic shopping bags, food wrappers, and plastic bottles. One source for this uncontrollable trash is rain runoff created by the many impervious surfaces in Asheville. I noticed plastic bags hanging in the trees and plastic  bottles scattered along the riverbank, most likely the result of the high water levels our rivers experienced from Asheville's rainy summer. People need to realize that our waterways are all one big conveyor belt to our oceans. One can start combating this problem by not using plastic bags or bottles because even if you are not deliberately polluting our rivers, using those items promotes the chance of it happening. Help Asheville GreenWorks' effort to stop trash from leaving our watershed by eliminating as much plastic from your life as possible!

-Christine