Sierra Club Events Get the Job Done

Sierra Club folks all around the country organized events for the National Day of Service on January 19, ranging from stream clean-ups to lightbulb distribution to mercury hair testing and film screenings. Turn-out was excellent, and organizers sent us photos to show the good work that was accomplished. Some of them are written up in our Scrapbook blog, but here are a few highlights:

This crowd cleaned up the Auburn-Folsom Road and Highway 49 near downtown Auburn,
California. Photo by Christina Ragsdale

California: "We collected 92 bags of trash and 11 bags of recyclables! [The best moment was] having an unbelievable turnout. Our group was hoping we would have ten or twenty people show up -- and we had over 100 enthusiastic volunteers! To top it off, our local paper sent a reporter and we were on the front page the following day." –- Christina Ragsdale in Granite Bay, California (see photo above)

Arizona: Michael Brady led an outing to commemorate the day. "I lead this trip almost monthly, and had about three times as many attendees as usual this time! Go Obama!" -– Michael Brady in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Nebraska: Sierra Club folks in Omaha, Nebraska, led by staffer Cammy Watkins, organized a weatherization project at a nursing home in North Omaha. There were 50 volunteers ranging in ages from late 60s to 4 years old. During the course of the day they were able to weatherize 26 living units as well as the large dining room, the library, and a couple of hallways. Click here to read an article about it.

Elsewhere in California, 250 folks show up to clean up the Ballona Wetlands. Sierra Club activist Martin Kasindorf made the video above. (Click on the arrow to play.)

New Mexico: In Albuquerque, 40 Sierra Clubbers (long-time volunteers as well as brand new folks) came together to distribute compact fluorescent bulbs in neighborhoods across the city. Organizer Shrayas Jatkar calculates that the team distributed a total of 2,680 CFLs –-which prevent the equivalent of 1,072 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted over the CFLs’ 10-year lifespan. In terms of economic savings, the distribution will help households save about $13,400 per year on their electricity bills.

Did You Hold a National Day of Service Event?

Tell us how it went! Send photos and a short write-up of your event to DayofService@sierraclub.org and we'll post it in our Scrapbook blog.