Patch Blog: It's the Little Things ...

What makes our community great? The big stuff sure, like a low crime rate, great schools, and wonderful places to shop and eat. But I think it’s the small, unnoticed gestures that allow the big things here to work.

Take last Saturday, for instance. Steve Pierce, along with CV Chamber of Commerce and Town Council members Cheryl Davis, Sandy Switzer, Rick Liss and Don Norbut showed up promptly at 8:30 a.m. to pick up trash from the La Crescenta off-ramp of the 210 Freeway.  Steve organized this effort about four years ago and you will find him and his “crew” there usually the second Saturday each month. They pick up as much trash as they can in 45 minutes and are finished by 9:15 a.m.

I joined in last Saturday. Somehow, Steve had managed to pack all we needed, including rakes, clippers, trash grabbers, bags, boxes of gloves, hard hats and vests, into his Mini Cooper. After donning safety gear and selecting a tool, we began walking both sides of the off-ramp looking for trash. Brightly dressed as we were, I’m sure some folks thought we were working off some court-mandated probation requirement. We quickly collected about five large bags full of trash plus a tire casing–which we had to stuff into a bag. Otherwise, CalTrans would not take it.

All in all, it was a fun, but somewhat harrowing experience. Despite the brightness of our outfits, motorists gave us no quarter. I sympathize much more now with our CalTrans workers who take these risks on a daily basis. I also gained a greater measure of appreciation for our community’s volunteers, doing the little, unnoticed things that really add up. In this case, five bags a month adds up to 60 bags of trash in a year. That has got to make a noticeable difference for all us living here.  Thank you.