More than 900 volunteers come out for Great Community Cleanup

KTMB (Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful) held another successful Great Community Cleanup Saturday, an event that happens every year in the spring when Washoe County residents and volunteers get together and help beautify local parks and places.

More than 900 volunteers came out for the 2022 KTMB Great Community Cleanup, helping to remove weeds, pick up trash, spread mulch, plant trees, and clean up illegally dumped items from open spaces at 23 sites across Washoe County. Local do-gooders planted 39 trees as well as more than 650 native plants, and properly disposed of potentially hazardous waste items such as appliance, tires, shot-up TVs, and an abandoned RV. At least 58,200 pounds of garbage (30 tons) and 10,740 pounds of green waste and invasive weeds were removed during the one-day event.

Sparks City Councilman Donald Abbott helped at Cottonwood Park (before the Sparks Proud event at Sparks High School) and says that the work went fast due to the substantial number of people who came out.

“We had so many volunteers that we were done by 10:15 a.m.; almost two-and-a-half hours early. We spread bark that the City mulched up from their Christmas Tree Recycling event. It was super fun as always and lots of bodies made for quick work,” Abbott says.

According to its 2020-21 Annual Report, 693 people volunteered at last year’s Great Community Cleanup, therefore 200 more people attended this year’s event.

“Our community and partners have so much enthusiasm to make the Truckee Meadows a more beautiful, safe, and clean place to live. This year’s cleanup featured 23 different sites ranging from park beautification projects to illegal dumpsites. Thanks largely to our 900 volunteers, all of these sites were greatly impacted,” said KTMB’s Beautifications and Cleanups Manager Tatum Sutliff.

“We’re so grateful to our many partners who continue to support our efforts, including our funders at the Truckee River Fund through the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada, Washoe County Health District, and the NV Energy Foundation. We’re especially grateful to all the volunteers in our community who came out on this beautiful Saturday to make today’s event successful. We could not do any of this without them.”

For more information about Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful nonprofits and its upcoming events, visit https://www.ktmb.org/.