Spring 2011 Redd Up!

During our April Redd Up, seven schools (Colfax,  Community Day, Hillel Academy, Linden, Minadeo,  St. Edmunds, Yashiva Girls ) sent students out into the areas around their schools to pick up litter.  Approximately 175 students picked up 55 bags of recyclables and 150 bags of trash. Not only did these efforts enhance the appearance of our neighborhood but prevented a great deal of trash from ending up in our watersheds, polluting our water, and becoming hazardous to wildlife habitats.   By retrieving the recyclables they also reduced the amount of trash that goes to a landfill.  So far, we have photos from five of those schools. A few are shown here, please visit our Flickr page HERE or our Facebook page HERE for all photos from the day!

Fall 2010 Redd Up!

It’s incredibly reassuring to see, year after year, that there is certainly no shortage of generous residents in our neighborhood willing to lend a hand (and perhaps get a little dirty!) for a good cause.  On Sunday, October 17th, more than 100 volunteers turned out to help tidy Squirrel Hill’s sidewalks, parking lots, gutters and alleyways as part of our annual Fall Redd Up event, co-sponsored by the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition and Litter Patrol.  Those of us who have been participating in this effort for years would all agree that we simply couldn’t win our battle against litter—or even stand a reasonable chance—without the support and hard work of our volunteers.  Of course, determining what constitutes a victory over littering, or indeed any other community blight, can be extremely difficult, especially given that the terms of ‘victory’ are often highly subjective and invariably relative as well.  We tend to think that every cleanup event is a small victory; after all, each gathering reaffirms that we have volunteers who care, boundless enthusiasm, a dedicated base of organizers, and a firm solidarity in our sense of duty to the community.  Even when the trash creeps back in, I sometimes think to myself “Just wait until our next cleanup day!”

So how did we do this time?  Here are some statistics compiled by Barb Grover:

• 151 volunteers counted overall (77 adults, 74 students/children)
• 100 members of groups in participation (34 adults, 66 students)
• 250 small white trash bags collected
• 110 blue recyclable bags collected
• 14 adults interested in regular (year-round) trash pick-up

We would like to thank the following groups for their participation: AmeriCorps, AEP,

The Academy, Beth Shalom, Community Day School, Temple Sinai, and Howard Stern’s softball group.  We would also like to thank volunteers Marion Taube, Rita Harmon, Ann Rose, Dave Grover, Carlene Deasy, Marsha Fuge, Alex Greenberg, Ceci Sommers, Bicky Goldszer, Barb Grover, Lin St. Clair, George Maloney, Michael Jehn, Greg MacLean, Peter Dworkin, Joyce English, and Joi English.  Finally, we would like to thank our sponsors: Giant Eagle, Randall’s Toys and Gifts, First Commonwealth Bank, the Jewish Association on Aging, Congressman Mike Doyle, Senator Costa, and Controller Michael Lamb.

For photos of the event - click HERE

If you’re interested in joining the attack on litter in our neighborhood, contact: Bicky Goldszer at 412-422-7666 or fill out the volunteer form to get your own litter beat.