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Sam Shields says “Keep Church Hill Clean”

A guest post from eleven-year-old Sam Shields (“your neighborhood cleaner”)

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Keep Church Hill Clean

You may have noticed signs in the neighborhood, asking you to pick up a piece of trash. I started this project for my school’s Environmental Project.

Last semester, I cleaned up trash in the neighborhood, on this one street north of Jefferson. I picked up trash there every weekend with my dad, but sadly, the trash kept coming back. This angered me and made my work feel useless. But then I realized that if I can get a group of people to do it then we get a lot of people doing the work. Small amounts per person would mean that neighbors wouldn’t have to clean up so much trash.

I came up with the Trash Challenge so that people could pick up trash, feel good about keeping Church Hill clean, and not feel so tired. I have left signs in empty lots, and flyers on poles so I can spread the word.

I figure that if people see their neighborhood environment clean then hopefully no one will litter anymore. Thank you for your help. And when you see someone litter, tell them to USE A TRASH CAN AND KEEP CHURCH HILL CLEAN!

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74 comments

dontmincewords 04/29/2015 at 7:57 AM

I love Sam! I accept his challenge.

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Elaine Odell 04/29/2015 at 9:40 AM

All hail Sam: fearless champion of litter! I raise my light-saber-litter-stick to honor you, good sir.

After a quarter century of litter gathering on my streets and in jeff park, it’s nice to know the movement is multi-generational.

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G. 04/29/2015 at 11:22 AM

@ Sam

Finding good dedicated folks in the neighborhood to help pick up trash is the easy part, stopping the uncaring folks from willfully dropping the trash on the ground – now that’s the hard part. It’s a free country, and apparently those who litter think it’s an expression of their right not to care. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll just have to continue picking-up the trash…

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Jimbo on Chimbo 04/29/2015 at 12:41 PM

Is it just me or do these signs look just as bad as the trash on the ground?

I like the idea, and know they are made by a kid, but eventually they will be knocked down and be trash as well….

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Chimbo 04/29/2015 at 2:36 PM

Good work.

Now can someone convince the car going patrons of Chimborazo that crab shells dont decompose on their own and that they shouldnt be just thrown out of the window

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K 04/29/2015 at 4:23 PM

And don’t forget that “trash” includes that which comes from the nether regions of your dog.

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Bill Conkle 04/30/2015 at 1:45 PM

Join us on Saturday May 16 at 845am to help clean up trash and litter at Jefferson Park and the area surrounding the Park. And consider friending us on FACEBOOK too.

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Jennifer Elsner 04/30/2015 at 3:35 PM

@JimboOnChimbo, Indeed, beauty IS subjective.

Rest assured part of Sam’s project, by design, was him mapping everyplace he placed a sign or posted a notice. He intends on returning to those locations to see if the placement had any tangible effects—and then, eventually, remove each sign so as not to contribute any “trash” to the neighborhood himself.

{I recommend learning about The Broken Windows Theory, by Wilson and Kelling, to anyone interested in why cleaning up trash has long term effects on a community.}

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John M 05/11/2015 at 7:16 AM

Sam responds to your questions, in a video

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Tea Sweet 05/11/2015 at 12:34 PM

Sam, Thank you for the time and effort you have put into your “Trash Challenge”. I wish you nothing but success, you are a awesome asset to this neighborhood!

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dontmincewords 05/11/2015 at 2:23 PM

When I was growing up, we had this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM

Now we have YOU!

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Jennifer Elsner 05/23/2015 at 9:19 AM

UPDATE: As of this morning (5/23), all signs Sam posted in the neighborhood have been collected. And even a few signs were already taken down when we arrived to get them ourselves. It takes a village!

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