Spend Saturday cleaning up trash and debris from local creeks
and rivers
Many hands make light work, and with enough hands pitching in this weekend, it won’t take much to make the South Valley an even more beautiful place to live.
Saturday is National River Cleanup Day as well as the City of Morgan Hill’s City Beautification Day. Both events offer locals a chance to improve the health of the South Valley’s environment.
The 10th annual river cleanup day, held by the Creek Connections Action Group, will take place from 9am-noon at about 30 different sites throughout the Santa Clara Valley, including two sites in Morgan Hill and one in Gilroy.
For three hours, volunteers will clean up trash and debris in and around local creeks and rivers, thus protecting water quality, preserving habitat for plants and animals, and preventing pollution from flowing down to the San Francisco and Monterey bays.
Volunteers should bring long pants, sturdy shoes, gloves, sunscreen, and a cap or hat. Most sites will provide extra gloves.
If digging through a river isn’t your thing, participate in the City of Morgan Hill’s City Beautification Day, also taking place Saturday from 8am-noon. Volunteers will work at locations throughout the city before coming together for a celebratory barbecue at Community Park on Edmundson Avenue.
Activities include painting ballpark fences, planting trees and – for those who can’t get enough of cleaning up rivers – eliminating litter from local creeks. Groups should call ahead to get specific assignments. Families and individuals should report to Morgan Hill City Hall, 17555 Peak Ave., at the corner of Peak and Alkire avenues, at 8am.
Volunteers should bring water, sunscreen, gloves and a hat.
The Creek Connections Actions Group that holds National River Cleanup Day is an action-oriented partnership made up of local government, non-profit and environmental organizations.
It coordinates two annual events: National River Cleanup day, held the third Saturday in May, and Coastal Cleanup Day, held the third Saturday in September. The events are sponsored by the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County Parks and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Events are funded in part by the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program.
