Trail looks nicer, thanks

It wasn’t about the free coffee and doughnuts.

These volunteers, after all, already work at Starbucks, so a strong cup of joe alone wouldn’t be enough incentive to get out of bed on a cloudy, Saturday morning to pick up litter along the Centennial Trail.

They came, instead, for the sake of civic involvement.

Despite the threat of rain, dozens of Starbucks employees, along with their friends and family, showed up at Mission Park in east Spokane to take part in “Unveil the Trail,” the annual cleanup of the 37-mile trail from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s really important to give back to the community,” said John O’Brien, the store manager for Starbucks on Hamilton Street near the Gonzaga University campus.

The 80 volunteers from Starbucks were among several hundred who spent three hours Sat-urday weeding and collecting trash along the Centennial Trail. Besides individuals and families, about 25 companies and organizations got their employees and members involved in the event, which has been organized for the past nine years by the Friends of the Centennial Trail.

Considered one of the area’s regional treasures, the Centennial Trail meanders through various landscapes, streets and vistas of Spokane, Spokane Valley and North Idaho and is enjoyed by at least 1 million users every year. While trail maintenance is done regularly by crews from the city of Spokane, Spokane County and the state, volunteers are still essential to the trail’s overall upkeep, said Kaye Turner, executive director of the Friends of the Centennial Trail.

“I’m just amazed at how many volunteers come out every year,” said Turner. “These folks always do a wonderful job.”

Dressed in sweats, old jeans and other work clothes, the crew from Starbucks came prepared – not just with coffee and doughnuts – but armed with rakes, shovels and rolls of clear, plastic trash bags. They brought along wives, husbands, partners, children, even infants and dogs to make sure they had all the help they could get.

That’s because for every hour worked by each employee and their family members, Starbucks corporate office planned to donate $10 to the Friends of the Centennial Trail, a nonprofit organization that serves as an advocate for trail users.

As they walked along the small patch of field adjacent to the trail, which is parallel to the railroad tracks on the edge of Mission Park, volunteers found all sorts of rubbish – from beer bottles and aluminum cans to plastic lids and shreds of newspaper.

Someone even found a grande-size Starbucks cup.

“A family that picks up trash together, stays together,” joked Debbie Wellman, a barista who brought along her husband, Rusty, and daughter, Juli, to assist in the cleanup. “We really like the community involvement.”