Sligo Creek clean up leaves stream trash free

Local residents participated in the second annual Sweep the Creek event sponsored by Friends of Sligo Creek (FoSC) on Saturday morning, September 13, from nine to eleven a.m. Families with small children, the Boy Scouts, and Blair's SGR were among those who collected trash along Sligo Creek despite the rain.

There were many unusual pieces of garbage, but the most "ironic piece of trash was the lid from a trashcan," said Sally Gagne, President of FoSC. A set of false teeth won the award for "Weirdest Find."

Edward Murtagh, Coordinator for the FoSC Litter Committee, estimated "a little over 200 volunteers" came this year in comparison to more than 300 last year. He recognized that poor weather conditions decreased the overall turnout, but even so, those that participated in the event collected "five or six thousand pounds of trash."

The "Largest Number of Volunteers" award went to the section with 44 participants, and the "Greatest Number of Trash Bags" award was 96.

Gagne was grateful to the public for showing an interest in cleaning Sligo Creek. "I was surprised at the number of people who came out," she said. "We definitely thought it was a success. Many people even said they saw less trash this year than last year." She was especially thankful for SGR's nine student volunteers, who were the only ones to arrive at the Parklawn Park section off of East-West Highway in Prince George's County.

FoSC would like to give a special thanks to the Woodmoor Pastry Shop for providing donuts for the volunteers; Howard Kohn for alerting Takoma Park soccer players about Sweep the Creeks; and the Montgomery County Department of Parks for donating all the gloves and trash bags for the event.

For future information about FoSC events, go to here.