"This is supposed to be a beautiful county"

Today, I met with our newest volunteer Lake Stewards, Marist College students Nicole Koenigsmann and Craig Corbeels, for the first scheduled cleanup at Morgan Lake Park. Wearing blue nitrile gloves on our hands, we each carried 30 gallon black trash bags around the park. We started in the partially fenced in area across from the permanent restroom building in the Rail Trail parking lot. There I found over 15 cigarette butts on the ground surrounding one of the park benches. In the clearing down below from the partially fenced in area, we found several empty plastic and glass bottles. The entire time we were in the clearing, the Mute swans were carefully watching us since their nest is nearby. A couple walking their dog said "Hello" to all of us when they passed through the clearing to stop and look out at the lake.

Next we decided to head to the other side of the lake where the pier is by following along its edge. In the reeds Nicole found a Skip-It, which had to have been there for a very long time since the last time I saw a Skip-It was in the early 2000s. Craig later found a traffic cone sticking out of the lake that had lost its familiar orange color; a sign that it, too, had been in the lake for a long time. 

An older man was fishing near the unpaved parking area for Morgan Lake off of Creek Rd. Shortly after he left, a man that was walking up the hill from Little George Street waved to us and asked if we were getting ready for the fishing derby (the annual Get Hooked on Fishing Event organized by Ken and Cheryl Rose). He then asked us if we knew of any organizations in the area that were looking for helping hands to clean up litter and we told him, "Yes! Our organization is looking for help!" Regrettably, I did not have one of the business cards I made in my pocket, but I told him I would leave a few at the Colonial Manor Apartments Leasing Office since he said he lived in that neighborhood. The man told us that he used to live in Putnam County and had worked for a roadside cleanup crew and that he enjoyed the job because it made him feel good to have helped clean the town he called home. He also said that he knew his work was valued by others in the community. Before walking back home, he said, "This is supposed to be a beautiful county." I replied, "You're right it is and if we all work hard to clean up, it will be."