EnviroCorps cleans up GH area one street at a time

Nonprofit adopts nine sections of roadway in GH, Key Peninsula

Nate Hulings

of the Gateway

Vernon Young of Gig Harbor knows how hard it is to get people to volunteer.

“Everybody looks after their own needs first,” he said. “Most do it because they are asked to do it, not because it was what they really wanted to do.

“True volunteers are pretty rare.”

Through EnviroCorps, a local nonprofit organization Young founded nine years ago, he hopes to clean up communities while serving those personal interests.

“My (personal) need is to do something for the community, and I think a lot of volunteers are that way,” Young said.

His original “need” was to get more exercise. The 73-year-old spent part of last Wednesday morning cleaning up litter on Fillmore Drive with fellow volunteer George Theisen.

Theisen, 64, has been an EnviroCorps volunteer for three years and does most of his litter patrol on Fox Island.

“It’s such a beautiful place,” Theisen said.

His motivation is divided when he picks up litter. Theisen walks his dog while he collects garbage on his normal 3-mile loop of the island.

The litter problem in the area can no longer be ignored, Theisen said.

“There’s litter everywhere,” he said. “This is probably the worst place I’ve lived when it comes to litter.”

He estimates he collects 30 pounds of litter weekly — about 1,500 pounds annually.

Young has found an inventive way to keep garbage and recyclables separate during patrols. Using PVC pipes, Young created a portable device with two square openings for garbage bags.

Young’s average litter patrol involves picking up at least 100 cigarette butts, aluminum cans of all sorts and fast food bags and wrappers.

However, what’s collected is not all garbage. On a recent patrol, Young found a $20 bill. Another time, he found a jacket, which happened to be his size. He’s also picked up cell phones and computers.

EnviroCorps has adopted nine sections of roadway in the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula areas through Pierce County or the City of Gig Harbor’s Adopt-A-Road Program. Each section is about 2 miles and requires quarterly litter patrol.

Those sections are then either sponsored or supported by local businesses. Sponsors pay $600 annually for EnviroCorps to clean up litter, while supporters generally kick in at least $10 monthly.

“Basically, we’ve come up with companies and individuals that want to see their name on a road sign but don’t want to pick up the litter,” Young said.

That isn’t to say financial contributions aren’t valuable.

Young insists on monthly litter patrols because it keeps the walking pace up and the litter amount down. And while he can’t guarantee all of the adopted roads will be completely litter-free, the idea is a hunger he’s constantly feeding.

Perks for adopting roads include complimentary vests, hard hats and litter patrol signs. The city or county also provides free bags and bag pickup.

However, because of the time involved in picking up equipment from the city and county every time it goes out, EnviroCorps has purchased much of its own equipment.

Top that with spending $1,000 in monthly Web site charges, and the need for more sponsors becomes apparent.

Young used to pay for EnviroCorps entirely out of his pocket, but ambitions and reality soon outweighed funding.

“People were willing to volunteer but weren’t as willing to open their pockets,” Young said.

If Young doesn’t find enough volunteers for a quarterly cleanup — of which he has three or four who are consistent — he hires LaborWorks employees.

Sometimes, it’s just Young.

He still gets the job done and doesn’t mind the alone time, but more volunteers would only help him achieve his litter-free goal.

The organization does more than litter patrol. EnviroCorps has cleaned up invasive plants at Wollochet Bay Estuary Park, put in trails at Harbor Family Park and helped to coordinate scout, church and school projects.

Young hopes to expand the program nationwide, with a leader in each zip code.

Interested in joining EnviroCorps?

For more information about how to join EnviroCorps, call Vernon Young at 253-265-6162 or visit www.envirocorps.org.

Reach Reporter Nate Hulings at 253-853-9243 or by e-mail at nate.hulings@gateline.com.