Some picked up trash, some scrubbed down the water parks and others raked the lawns of community members, but all 250 volunteers at Saturday’s Turlock Shines community clean-up day worked to help beautify the Turlock community.
“We are here so we can do something for someone else,” said Ryan Tribble, adviser for Turlock High School’s Students Against a Vanishing Environment club. “We are doing something bigger than ourselves. We want to get the kids out here to see what we are trying to save.”
Groups of volunteers spread along Golden State Boulevard to pick up trash, clean up three private homes, re-waxed both Broadway and Columbia water parks and re-stain Donnelly Park’s playground.
“We are doing well,” said Mary Jackson, one of the organizers for Turlock Shines and a Turlock City Council member. “We continue to grow.”
Volunteers from Westside Ministries, Stanislaus County Habitat for Humanity, Turlock Covenant Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Lowe’s, PMZ real estate, Julio Hallack Concrete Innovations, Emanuel Medical Center, California State University, Stanislaus baseball team, CSUS Theta Chi, CSUS Kappa Sigma, Dennis Earl Elementary School, Pitman High School Key Club and Turlock High School’s cross country team, Advancement Via Individual Determination club, Faith club, Key club and Wild Link club all participated in Saturday’s community clean up day.
Some groups were brand new to this year’s community clean-up day while others were veterans from last year’s event.
Turlock High School senior Hannah Bertomen was a returnee from last year and came as part of her cross country team.
“We did it last year and it was a lot of fun,” Bertomen said. “It helped with team bonding and it was nice to clean up the community together.”
Stanislaus County Habitat for Humanity also joined in on the clean-up fun for the first time this year as part of World Habitat Day where Habitat for Humanity conducted projects all over the world on Saturday.
They helped Turlock Shines volunteers to build a better partnership with the City of Turlock and help clean up the neighborhoods, said Chris Atkinson, member of Stanislaus County Habitat of Humanity. Their job was to clean up the surrounding neighborhood from their house on Minerva Street in Turlock.
Member of Good Shepherd Church Ron Youngdale was happy to help beautify the community and join the Habitat for Humanity team to help clean up the Minerva Street neighborhoods by raking the yards of neighbors and giving away trees donated by Lowe’s.
“We want to be connected to the community,” he said. “We want to show that our love for God leads to the love for our people.”
To contact Maegan Martens, e-mail mmartens@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2015.
