A gorgeous morning in Juniata Park was the location for a “Litter Clean Up” on Saturday, August 10th. Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary sponsored the event that brought out a handful of people to clear the park around Ferko Playground of litter.
Madeline Jones of H Street in Juniata was out to help clean up. She’s hoping to get her neighbors involved as she sees more and more dumping of trash in the area.
“If we care for our neighborhood, we have to take part, and be part of that solution,” she said. She’s trying to ‘infect’ people into wanting to keep everything clean. “We have a beautiful area here. Let’s maintain it.” Madeline said that she thinks that her neighbors feel the same way, but do need to get excited about it. “I want to be the cheerleader”.
Siani Colon, another volunteer from H Street, and a student at Temple University, came out to do her part. “Dumping has been such a large issue in the neighborhood,” she said. “I’ve lived here my whole life and you can see how much it’s rapidly changed, and not for the better, with so much trash.”
Siani said that the trash really diminishes the quality of life, and that facts show that a clean environment really benefits your mental health. “If we ban together and take care of the public spaces, it’s really going to be a benefit to the whole community. If we’re going to enjoy these spaces, we need to take care of it.”
