'The Great Tulsa Clean Up' Uses Volunteers To Clean The City For Earth Month

Earth Day is on April 22nd but Tulsans are already finding ways to celebrate.

The Great Tulsa Clean-Up is a month-long effort organized by the City of Tulsa.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone that would like to get involved," said Community Involvement Coordinator Janell Hartwell.

B.C. Franklin Park is one of 29 locations around Tulsa where volunteers can sign up to clean up.

Cheryl Black and her two coworkers took the opportunity to help out on Monday afternoon.

"We take a lot of pride in the city," she said. "All three of us work in finance for the City of Tulsa."

Black said it surprised her how much trash there was at B.C. Franklin Park. She held up a half-full trash bag saying, "This is just from the parking lot, we have not even got to go into the park yet."

The Great Tulsa Clean-Up began about 30 years ago. Groups of friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors all sign up by picking a date, time, and location to clean up.

"It is just making the parks cleaner for the citizens, basically is what we are doing," Black said.

The city provides all the supplies needed like trash bags, gloves, and a grabber tool to pick up trash.

Hartwell said on average 600 volunteers sign up to help, but last year the city saw over 1,000 people. She adds the more people, the bigger the impact.

"We live on the planet, so that is our number one reason why we should take care of it," Hartwell said. "Another reason is it does not look nice. Not only does it not look nice, but it is also not healthy for our environment, it is not healthy for the creatures that utilize this creek, and so everyone can play a small part to making a big difference."

The creek runs right through the park and is littered with all sorts of trash.

"There is a lot of plastic litter, there is some cardboard, even some metal litter, and it can have a severe impact on the water quality," Hartwell said.

If not for people like Black and her coworkers stepping up to do something about it.

"If this was my neighborhood I would want it to stay clean all the time and I would want it to stay clean for my grandson, so that is what I am thinking about," Black added.

To sign up for the Great Tulsa Clean-Up visit https://www.cityoftulsa.org/cleanup. All volunteers receive a free T-shirt.