Community volunteers join for clean-up day
CALEXICO — Volunteers cleaned up cleaning trash from empty lots along Highway 98 Saturday as part of an Earth and Arbor Day community clean up.
The event was organized by the Kennedy Gardens coalition.
Participating organizations included Aurora High School, Vo Neighborhood Medical Clinic, the city of Calexico, Heffernan Memorial Healthcare District and AmeriCorps.
Representatives from these community organizations and public agencies provided about 40 volunteers altogether. They met for a debriefing at John F. Kennedy Park.
Imperial Irrigation District Division 4 Director Javier Gonzalez, the leader of the coalition, hopped on some playground equipment and thanked everyone in attendance.
He dispersed the group to differen lots along Highway 98, including the lot south of Aurora High, the lot west of D’Poly Mexican Restaurant and the lot east of the Luis Moreno senior apartments on Rancho Frontera Avenue.
City Council members Gloria G. Romo and Camilo Garcia were among the volunteers.
During the debriefing, Gonzalez advised volunteers to avoid picking up needles and glass, but rather to focus on picking up litter such as paper.
He said one lot that particularly needed cleaning was the one near D’Poly.
“It looks a lot cleaner,” he said after volunteers made their way through it with trash bags in hand. “It still has a lot of rubbish, but, without the paper, it’s cleaned.”
The Kennedy Gardens coalition had planned a similar event in 2020, but had to cancel due to COVID-19 restrictions.