Earth Day Cleanup Event a Success

The streets of Fenton are a little tidier thanks to the collaborative effort of about 70 local residents.

Mother Nature was smiling on the Cafe of Life's second Annual Earth Day Cleanup on Saturday morning. Blue skies and sunshine welcomed old and young alike who showed up to clean trash off Fenton streets and learn about other ways to be kind to the environment.

“I'm really pleased with the turnout,” said Erica Peabody, owner of the Cafe of Life. “Last year we had 15 people and it rained so this is a big improvement.”

Snacks, seeds and coloring books for the kids and aloe plants, donated by the grandmother of a employee, were given out to participants.

“I think it's great the community is getting together to do this,” said Dana Wigton, who moved to Fenton six months ago.

The event kicked off with a presentation on composting, given by Amy Freeman-Rosa, a Fenton resident, long-time recycler and composting educator and Brian Rosa, an organic recycling specialist for the state of North Carolina.

“By composting kitchen scraps, empty toilet paper rolls and the like, people can reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill, where it does nothing, and build healthy soil that will grow healthy food,” said Freeman-Rosa.

Freeman-Rosa said she keeps a covered bucket under her sink to collect “green” kitchen scraps, then empties them into a composting bin along with “brown” materials, like dead leaves. These two things, with the help of air and water, eventually become dirt that can be used in a garden.

Demonstrations on worm composting, or vermiculture, as well as a display of homemade cleaning products also were available for attendees to take in before they set off on the streets to clean up the garbage.

Peabody said she was inspired by a trip to London where she said everything was pristine.

“Their city is clean because everyone cleans up and people are more likely to keep it clean if it's clean to begin with,”explained Peabody.

Seeing the trash that was collecting on the streets of Fenton made her take action.

“People asked me why a chiropractor would want to do this,” said Peabody. “It's because chiropractic medicine is built on life and living and part of that is the environment we live in.”

The organizers of the event plan to keep it an annual tradition that gets bigger and bigger.

“We're trying to get Holly involved, too,” said Kelly Dues, a former Fenton business-owner who helped get the event off the ground. “We're hoping it will just snowball.”

They're off to a good start. This year they filled a trailer bed with garbage bags. Peabody says she plans to leave it there for a few days.

“I'm hoping people will see it and realize just how much trash is lying around our city and be more conscientious,” Peabody said.

If not, there's always next year.