Spring Cleanup, Summer Cleanup, Every Season Cleanup
Contributed by Linda Lozanoff
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank, 1929-1945, German Jewish schoolgirl diarist, was the title of an article I submitted to The People’s Paper in the spring of 2020, prior to the cities of Wasilla and Palmer’s annual May cleanup week. This article was a reflection of observations made as the world was in lockdown. In my neighborhood then, I saw individuals and families out walking, riding bikes, skateboarding, and exercising their dogs.
At the time of the submission and printing of the article, it was not known if the annual organized city cleanup week would occur. The message was to encourage borough citizens, as they were spending time outdoors walking on our local roads and trails, to carry a bucket or bag and do their own trash cleanup. The conclusion of the article encouraged this to continue after we would all go back to our previous lives before the pandemic.
Now it is the end of April, and this article will be printed after the May cleanup week. The Valley once again is in desperate need of its citizens to get out and pick up trash.
No doubt some of you reading this will have participated in the official cleanup week. Thank you. To all of us who did and those of us who did not, we do not need an organized week to improve the appearance of this beautiful place we live in. Yes, we are all busy with work, travel, yard work and children’s activities, but please take the time to get outdoors to take a walk, carry a trash bag, and be rewarded with the gratification of having made our community a cleaner place to live.
Thank you!