Cheney holds cleanup day
EWU students, city group pick up trash on Earth Day
A long and messy winter has melted away, only to reveal garbage strewn about during the last few months and sidewalks covered with sand from road crews.
Earth Day came around just in time, and students from Eastern Washington University and the Historic Downtown Cheney Partnership teamed to clean a 20-block area from First to Fifth streets and between B and G streets.
Members of the track team, the Trio program and many sororities pitched in to make their community cleaner.
“We’re putting in community service, and this is where we live,” said Jacquelin Acevedo, a freshman at EWU.
Bonnie Berscheid, a program manager with the Historic Downtown Cheney Partnership, said not only is the cleanup a good way to make their community cleaner, but it also gets the students into downtown to see what the town has to offer.
The students were given instructions – about not picking up sharp objects with bare hands or not handling any hazardous materials, such as car batteries – before they were turned loose on the streets of Cheney armed with garbage bags, brooms and shovels.
Spencer Grainger of the Historic Downtown Cheney Partnership gave students instructions and told them to bring back the most interesting piece of garbage they found.
“Whether it’s somebody’s dirty underwear or a love letter, bring it back here,” Grainger said.
Freshman Perla Ochoa said she gets into the downtown area quite often, visiting the different restaurants and attending events at some of the local pubs. She and Mauryn Quintero, a senior, had teamed to clean up an area near Second and C streets. The pair said the most interesting piece of garbage they found was a Tweety Bird kite.
“We’re having too much fun,” Quintero said, shortly after hopping a fence to pick up some trash.
Erika Ambrocio, another EWU freshman, led her team to clean the area of C Street from Second Street up to the university. She said cleanup days like this were nothing new to her.
“In high school we used to do it every year,” Ambrocio said.
For their efforts, the volunteers received bottles of water, some snacks and a T-shirt that read “Downtown Cheney Earth Day, 2009.” Plus, they got a good feeling for helping their community.