Residents of the Anaheim Balsam Curtis neighborhood woke up on a recent Saturday (Nov. 3) to see a group of volunteers, clad in bright orange vests, with trash pickers and bags scouring their neighborhood. Thus continued what has become a semi-annual tradition sponsored by the Anaheim Rotary Club through Anaheim Beautiful’s Adopt-A-Neighborhood program.
In truly a collaborative effort, representatives from several city departments including Anaheim Neighborhood Services, Code Enforcement and the Police Department, joined with Anaheim Beautiful and the Rotarians to collect trash along the streets of the neighborhood. Additionally, Superior Inc., a business member of Anaheim Beautiful, was on hand to rid the neighborhood of any graffiti found during the clean up.
This fall’s event, the second this year, saw a welcomed addition of volunteers from two of Anaheim Rotary’s high school Interact Clubs. Students from Katella and Magnolia High School offered up the early hours of their weekend to help.
“We are always happy to see young people helping our community and especially proud when we know that they became involved through a Rotary high school Interact Club,” said Anaheim Rotarian Gregory Linden, a former instructor for Magnolia High School’s Interact Club. “Teaching volunteerism and community spirit while they are young instills a deep sense of community from the start.”
For this cleanup, several local residents, including a number of children, joined in the effort.
“With all the help, we were able to clean up the neighborhood in a record time of one hour and 15 minutes. I attribute this to the fact that the neighborhood is in better shape since the Rotary Club of Anaheim adopted the neighborhood initially and requires less work to clean up,” said Steve Rosco, coordinator of the event. “We have more residents and Rotarians helping with the cleanup effort and Superior Graffiti does a great job removing graffiti on a regular basis. The Rotary Club of Anaheim gives a special thanks to all who helped make this a very successful day.”
For more information on how to get involved in Adopt-A-Neighborhood or one of Anaheim Beautiful’s many other programs, please visit www.anaheimbeautiful.org.
