This year will mark 10 years since a Silver Lake resident first mobilized volunteers to clean-up trash in his home village.
Over those years, the Salem Lakes Spring Clean-Up has expanded to the whole village of Salem Lakes and beyond and has had an increasing number of volunteers each year, said Allen Dunski, the clean-up’s founder.
“I started the event in 2012 due to seeing the overwhelming amount of trash that filled the ditches in the former village of Silver Lake,” Dunski said. “The volunteer numbers have steadily increased since 2012, which consisted of 10 volunteers to a record 185 volunteers last year.”
Thie year’s event will take place Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. Volunteers will meet at Fox River Park, in the back parking lot (follow the signs). Breakfast will be provided by Best Bargains and Village Pub of Silver Lake. Following the cleanup, Tekampe Pig Roasts is cooking up a pig for the volunteers. Hansen’s Ice Cream is supplying every volunteer with a bag of their homemade popcorn and every kid that attends will leave with a certificate for Hansen’s Ice Cream.
Volunteers are given specific routes that are predetermined to have the most amount of trash on them. They will then walk these routes and pick up trash, which is then picked up by volunteers in trucks that will bring full bags to a dumpster donated by Johns Disposal, Dunski explained.
In the previous nine years, Dunski estimates that 35 tons of trash have been collected. The event was expanded to cover all of Salem Lakes after the merger of Silver Lake and Salem and now also includes parts of Randall and Wheatland.
In the last few years, organizers have asked area residents and businesses for donations.
“These donations are meant to be an incentive to get more volunteers and it has been a great success,” Dunski said.
To be entered into the event drawing, volunteers must bring a bag of non-perishable food items that are donated to The Sharing Center’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive and attend the cleanup for the duration of the event. Last year, over 850 pounds of food was collected for The Sharing Center. Last year’s prizes included a kids BMX bike, a kayak and booze wagon. More donations this year are still welcome.
Looking back at the last 10 years, Dunski said the event has exceeded his initial expectations.
“I am blown away that we are entering our 10th year and honestly did not think the need would be there every year, but it is,” Dunski said. “There have been years where we have done a spring and fall cleanup.”
Dunski doesn’t anticipate stopping the event for one fundamental reason.
“The need will always be there,” Dunski said “And the more volunteers we get, means the more area we can cover.”
