It seemed like science fiction as the group formed a circle and
went on all fours for the unearthing. Thirty gloved hands dug sand
from around a half submerged metal box marked with neon glyphs.
It seemed like science fiction as the group formed a circle and went on all fours for the unearthing. Thirty gloved hands dug sand from around a half submerged metal box marked with neon glyphs.
It was the denouement of the San Benito High School Key Club’s River Cleanup Saturday when they found and removed a half buried washing machine covered in graffiti. The enthusiastic effort to rid the river of this piece of entrenched trash came after four hours of cleaning the San Benito River and the Santa Ana Creek. It was thrown in with the 36.3 tons of trash the 36 high school students pulled out.
That’s a ton of trash per student!
“People don’t realize what they’re doing to the environment, it’s just really sad,” said freshman Stacie Dain after throwing a particularly foul looking mattress on to the pile of corrugated piping, bottles, tires, an engine and spray paint cans. It doesn’t seem like something a teenager would want to do, but Dain heard about it through her participation in the Key Club.
“I just tried it out, and I love it,” said Dain, wearing gloves donated by Ace Hardware that went to her elbows.
The river cleanup is the third such effort by San Benito High School students, who get required community service hours for participation.
“I think our goal is to bring awareness to our community that our waterways are not landfills,” says Key Club advisor Mitch Huerta, who also wants the high school to adopt a section of the San Benito River and use it as place to learn about the natural environment.
“I don’t think that people understand its importance or that what goes into the river goes into our water supplies,” says Huerta.
