I spent last Saturday with several friends and newly made friends while cleaning up the streets of Lakeshore and Olympic in Clearlake. Cathy Wilson from the Small Business Development department at Yuba College organized this event through the Keep America Beautiful, Great American Cleanup, the nation's largest community improvement program. Ms. Wilson brought together the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, the City of Clearlake, several organizations and community members together to take part in caring for our two main streets of town. The chamber was asked to inform businesses of the date and purpose, that if they cleaned up their area, we could focus on other areas. It was so nice to get the phone calls Friday from many businesses who said do not worry about us, we just spent hours cleaning our building, parking lots, and planting flowers.

Teams were put together to work targeted areas, the goal was to pick up trash, pull weeds in walkways, clean signs, sweep rocks off walkways, and get the dirt out of the gutters.

Saturday was a bit windy, but sunny. The wind didn’t deter our purpose one bit. People arrived early to pick up their supplies and get started. There were youth groups working Austin Park and all ages were represented in the crews of helpers.

In writing this, it is my goal to thank everyone who helped in cleaning our town. From the local businesses that supplied the cleaning supplies for free or low cost. The business groups, social clubs, church organizations and youth groups. The City of Clearlake employees, a very special thank you to you! Not just for helping but also for keeping us safe while we worked! I saw just how easy it was to get lost in thought while you work, forgetting you are on the side of the road! Thank you for keeping us safe! There are so many people to thank, and for that, I feel truly blessed to live in Clearlake!

Lori Peters is executive director of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce and owner of Wild About Books.

{mos_sb_discuss:4}