Trash in Bags, Not by the Creek

As I was walking my dog, Buddy, by the creek across from my house the other day, I decided to grab a couple of trash bags.  Although I normally grab a small trash bag to pick up Buddy’s waste, this time I was grabbing some larger bags.  The creekside was coated with trash, bottles, and cans, and I wanted to change that.  Within 15 minutes, we had gathered 2 full bags of trash and recycling (I say ‘we’ loosely — Buddy was mostly drinking from the creek as I picked up stuff).  I realized afterwards how satisfied I felt and how I would have liked to have shared that experience with a young person.  So, I’m encouraging matches to find ways to engage in service to our community - even if it’s 15 minutes helping your neighborhood. 

An article from The Tutor (Fall 2007) entitled “The Ripple Effect: When Mentors & Mentees Volunteer Together” (by Jennifer Goddard) states: “Volunteering together builds civic responsibility while helping youth to identify their skills,values, and important role helping address community needs. Serving the community together can deepen the mentoring relationship as the mentor and mentee connect with each other and the larger community, which also benefits in turn. Like the ripple effect created by dropping a pebble into a pond, pairing mentoring and service can amplify and extend the benefits.”  Click here to read more of The Ripple Effect-Fall07.