It's My Park Day sets volunteer records

Photo courtesy Austin Parks Foundation

Annual cleanup event took place March 1

The Austin Parks Foundation hosted its largest single-day cleanup effort to date March 1 with It's My Park Day.

The annual cleanup project attracted 3,500 volunteers at 102 parks throughout Austin. That effort represents approximately 10,000 labor hours and a $250,000 investment in Austin's parks, said Collin Wallis, Austin Parks Foundation executive director.

"Our parks are what make Austin great, and the city is never going to have enough money to take care of them the way they need," Wallis said. "It's good to have people do work they perceive needs to be done."

Leading up to the annual event, volunteers signed up for projects of their choosing. The 102 projects this year tops last year's total of 90, which was up considerably from past years, Wallis said. Efforts range widely from tree care and graffiti cleanup to mulching, bamboo removal, grass maintenance, creek cleanup and more.

The 15-plus year event, hosted on the first Saturday of March each year, may be close to capacity, Wallis admits.

"We provide the management and tools, but we only have enough tools. We don't have a whole lot more than that to outfit more than 3,500 volunteers," he said. "We're sort of reaching a bit of a cap without bringing other organizations in the mix."

Wallis encouraged interested volunteers to consider joining other annual volunteer outings such as National Trails Day in June and National Public Lands Day in September. His foundation also hosts year-round volunteer efforts for individuals and groups.

"Any given week, we're having several projects of varying types that either companies, neighborhood groups or Boy Scout troops will sign up and go do," Wallis said.