Don't Rain on My Parade

"You know it's supposed to rain on Sunday?" Yes I knew, but I refused to let that stop me from carrying out the Earth Day cleanup I planned for today 4/22/2012. The rain didn't stop 15 other volunteers from coming to clean up litter at Morgan Lake either! Among those in attendance were some of my family members who are all very supportive of this revitalization project. My mom (Amy Fugere-Wallace), dad (Daniel Wallace), aunt (Michele Fugere), grandma (Betty Fugere), and brother (Josh Wallace) were all there in their rain gear; ponchos, full body rain suits, a golf umbrella and a vintage plastic rain hat. Our Lake Stewards from Marist College, Nicole Koenigsmann and Craig Corbeels, were also in attendance and they brought some friends from Marist along with them: Benjamin Bruckenthal, Erin Hoagland (Environmental Science and Policy major), Jenna DePue, and Rachelle Fakhouri. F.D. Roosevelt High School was also represented today by students junior Josh Wallace (my brother) and freshman Emily Shaw, a returning Lake Steward. My good friends Brittany Bush, an alumni of Binghamton University, and Nicole Braun, a celebrated vegan baker at Mother Earth's Storehouse, Inc., also came to help out. Our special guest of the day was Ken Rose. Ken and his wife Cheryl organize the "Get Hooked on Fishing" Weekend held each May at Morgan Lake. This year will be the 25th anniversary of what Ken and Cheryl proudly call "Kids Day."

Starting at 1pm we broke into groups of two and three and tackled areas around the north side of the lake. Nicole, Craig, and Benjamin found 33 glass bottles, a zip-up sweater, and a metal folding chair. Michele found a crows head and a shower head in the reeds. Nicole Braun and I found a black water line tube and a lot of plastic bags.



At 2pm, Emily Shaw blew the Vuvuzela, a gag gift from my boyfriend, to let everyone know it was time to return to the Check-In table to sort through the garbage. Using the Green It Movement Activity Report, we recorded the number of plastic bottles, glass bottles, aluminum cans, clothing items, food wrappers, metal items, plastic items, paper items, fishing-related items, and Styrofoam pieces we picked up. Total numbers for the day included:  24 plastic bottles, 51 glass bottles, 25 aluminum cans, 6 clothing items, 41 food wrappers, 6 metal items, 53 plastic items, 16 paper items, 14 fishing-related items, 44 Styrofoam pieces.