Mid Valley Recycling Celebrates Our Volunteers
Contributed by Sammy Taylor, Patti Fisher
Mid Valley Recycling began in 2012 with a wing and a prayer, a few loyal folks and a small grant from Big Lake Community Council. In the following years, Mat-Su Health Foundation, Meadow Lakes Community Council, and the MEA Roundup program have provided additional financial help for operations and for special contests and programs. Recently, Mat-Su Health Foundation gave us a grant to help advertise the benefits to all of recycling.
We’ve become more sophisticated over the years and have formed a wonderful relationship with Valley Community for Recycling Solutions (VCRS) and the Mat-Su Borough Solid Waste staff. Now those two entities take care of everything we collect so none is wasted, and all is put to another purpose after being recycled. Recycling in Big Lake is so successful that, for example, we collect a yearly average of 80 tons of recycled corrugated cardboard. A lot of that is sold by VCRS to a Palmer business that employs nine people. We try to do our part to keep the Earth healthy.
None of this would be possible without the responsibility and commitment of our volunteers. Except during the coldest months, we are open for recycling at the Big Lake transfer site both Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3. We accept everything VCRS does except the glass which is too heavy to transport on a large scale. To make sure we provide usable materials for those companies purchasing recyclables, volunteers are available when we’re open to help. Some of our volunteers have been with us since the beginning in 2012, like Yvonne. Some helped us get started and then moved on. We appreciate all those efforts. Things wouldn’t be so great now without your earlier help.
Right now, other volunteers include Patti (former officer and grant coordinator), Steve (current treasurer), John (current president and always there to shovel snow and help set up or put away equipment), Annie Lawler (our vice president and scheduler), and the other loyal (mostly retired) volunteers who keep us humming along. That includes Bonnie, Connie, Kat, Gloria, Jennifer (our Mrs. Alaska volunteer), John and Lori, Kathrin, Peggy, Shelley.
We even have a few younger volunteers who take time from their working lives to help. Kara works at the library and elsewhere and even entices her husband to assist occasionally. James can only volunteer in the winter because he does motorcycle tours of Alaska in summer and works another job. Annie P. has volunteered since last summer but will soon be headed south to do stream restoration in Washington state. We hope to see both James and Annie next winter when we really need them. We love all our younger volunteers because they will keep things going after some of us old folks no longer can.
And to all of you wonderful volunteers, we say thank you for being a part of the solution. We do what we can.
If the rest of you readers live in the Big Lake area and have time to help, we would love to have you join our team. Contact Annie at 443-823-9694. We encourage all ages to volunteer.
Don’t forget to get in the spirit by coming to Recycle Revival on June 7. That is the annual musical fund-raising program held at Skeetawk (Hatcher Pass). It’s a great afternoon and evening event for the entire family featuring local bands, good food, and a silent auction.
We appreciate you as a volunteer or as a recycler. We are everything and everything is us!