SATURDAY September 17, 2011
11am-4pm
FREE CANOE RENTAL WITH ID! From Fort Wayne Outfitters and Earth Adventures
(2 competitors working together for cleaner rivers for our city!)
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River Education - NOON
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Cleansing the St. Mary's Riverbanks of garbage - You won't be able to miss it!
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Too late in the season for plantings but not too
late to see blooming flowers!
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Cleansing the riverbanks of garbage will help
downstream.
Click on picture for larger
image!
We will meet here:
ALL EVENTS ARE RAIN OR SHINE
Don't just dream about clean rivers...Come out & help....if not you....WHO?
Our projects heart & soul is in our citizen volunteers! The
river thanks you from its bottom!
Well, the good news is we will be back again next
year and the year after that - to plant native riparian seed, clean
up the banks of the Maumee River, and raise awareness about the
conditions of our beautiful waterways...same time same place!
The river thanks you all from it's bottom!
2010 Happenings:
~Underbelly of the St. Mary’s River Uncovered~
What an interesting day THANK YOU to all Save Maumee’s 60
energetic river workers! Police, a meth amphetamine lab, batteries, full fire
extinguisher & spray paint, Kids Dart, Think Smart yard sign, a sink,
metal car parts, a carpeted wooden box with incubator like dials attached, 2
wallets complete with driver’s licenses, full size dead cat, Pepsi can from the
1970’s, a Cookie Monster hat, thousands of cans/bottles/Styrofoam and cigarette
butts, and of course plenty of tampons and fresh water jellyfish to
finish the day. We also installed 40 square feet of erosion control mats to keep
soil where it belongs.
Many questions arose as to where all the fresh water
jellyfish came from…a.k.a. condoms. Local citizens flush them down the
toilet, the combined sewer systems then flush them to the river with as little
as 1/10th inch of rainfall. They are not from extracurricular
activities on the rivers! Remember, what you flush down your toilets and sinks
DO NOT go away, they end up in our rivers. To clarify questions asked about
Combined Sewer Overflows please read the
Save Maumee’s Blog post here:
The meth lab, found on the banks of the St. Mary’s by
Carrie Morris, the wife of State Senate candidate Jack Morris, and Marlin
Rossiter, prompted Bloomingdale Association President to summon the police.
What did it look like? It was a yellow tube, about 1/4th inch in
diameter and three feet long, attached to a plastic bottle on one end and a
plastic bag to the other end. All of this neatly wrapped up with a dozen
pseudo-ephedrine cartons in a gallon size zip lock baggie. As Carrie Morris
said of the find, “It is important that we, as citizens, take on personal
responsibility to look after our city. Save Maumee was impactful today, and I
recommend anyone who is concerned about the quality of life in Fort Wayne to
join them in their efforts.”
Interestingly, the police were extremely concerned about
the soil and ground on which the meth was being manufactured. They recommended
that HAZMAT employees from the drug task force cleanse the area. However, after
realizing the bag with the manufacturing material was wet, it was then
considered remediated, the baggie and contents were returned to the pile of wet
trash from the river.
Be very aware that PEOPLE live on your riverbanks in Fort
Wayne. Here should be the following understanding regarding trash and these
CITIZENS. Save Maumee past and present policy. When you find an area where
someone is living on the land, please remove anything that looks like it is
decimated to the point of discarding. If a blanket, for example, looks lumped
on a shore after being washed in the Maumee River, please remove it. If it
appears that your dog would love to cuddle into a warm, dry blanket please leave
it exactly how you found it, this may be considered property…Please move along
to find other true trash and pollution. It is not difficult to find true
rubbish on Fort Wayne’s riverbanks.
This topic came up because a volunteer approached Founder
of Save Maumee, Abigail King at 5pm and said, “I feel bad because I think I took
someone’s home. I removed a blanket and it was not very dirty. I want to put
it back where I found it. I feel like I made a mistake, what should I do.”
Abigail responded, “Here is the 30 yard trash container. You can either go
through it, find the blanket and return it to the place you found it, or you can
pull your warm comforter off your own bed and give it to the riverbanks. There
are many homeless people and they will find another blanket to use or a place to
sleep if you decide otherwise.” None returned to the previous site.
Save Maumee is sending blankets and sheets next week to the
Fort Wayne Rescue Mission as a good will gesture to honor the person who lost
their possession and suggests all Fort Wayne citizens to do the same. If there
is a used blanket in your closet taking up space, consider making a trip to the
Fort Wayne Rescue Mission at 301 W. Superior St. to donate your warm bedding.
The Mission said they would graciously accept gently used items. If you are in
need because you are missing a blanket, please request one from Fort Wayne
Rescue Mission. Fall weather approaches.
Sometimes others feel like enough is not being done for our
waterways, other times people feel like the issues are so large that individuals
cannot make a difference. Smash the status quo, feel empowered! The homeless
is definitely a discussion topic and would like your feedback as to leading by
example.
Now for a few funny asides:
Les Lesser entertained us and what an
entertainer! I had people comment, “I love his passion, he is playing his heart
out to only a few people – you can tell he would play the same to a thousand
people, or a row of dogs!” Now that is what a musician truly should be! YOU
ROCK.
Aaron Goulet from Local Level Promotions was the first casualty of the
river that day. The first family to disembark on their canoe journey
of the day, fell in the Maumee when Aaron all his children in their life-vests,
eagerly anticipating their first clean-up departed and flipped as Dad stepped
into the boat! Sorry wet river lovers. They dried off and tried another
successful attempt!
Phi Theta Kappa – Honors Society from
Purdue University brought 10 people to remove trash! Large
effort by another unified group that cares about your rivers!
What was the most interesting pull out of the
river? Foster found the following at one site…A Bible, 2 candles, a
pair of underwear, 2 condoms, and a roll of film. hhhmmm…
2009 Canoe Clean Up
Happenings:
Thanks to you we collected in 2009: 3
shopping carts, a TV/VCR Combo Unit, a computer, orange construction cone, car
battery, tire, 3 street signs, 4 purses and a wallet, condoms, tampons,
cigarette butts, and way too much plastic!
Phi Theta Kappa - Honors Society members came from IPFW to
help with your rivers!
Les Lesser and friends performed...I was not expecting music...and it was GREAT!
Even the wildlife enjoyed it! Old Crown Coffee and Health Food Shoppe snacks are
always a hit, A thank you to our in-kind donors.
INTEREST PIECE ~ Just an aside that made me feel great about what we
do...."Peter's" wallet was found at the Canoe Clean-Up. This wallet had 3 credit
cards, driver's license, veteran's administration card, EVERYTHING! We called
around with no avail with the name or address so we called the veterans admin.
office. They found "Peter" and he called me to collect his wallet. He had lost
his wallet at The Old Fort when he was volunteering his time and "reenacting" at
the Old Fort for other people's enjoyment. He had laid down his wallet and when
he got back it was gone. He said it was a large disappointment to lose his
wallet because the $7 he had in there was not as valuable as all the "stuff" in
there that he had to cancel. He came back to Fort Wayne to collect it from my
home and I received an email from Historic Fort Wayne offices that said:
Abby-
I just wanted to say thank you to you and your volunteers. I got off the
telephone a few minutes ago from Peter, a friend and fellow reenactor. He told
me that you all found his wallet this past weekend while working on the
riverbank, and how you contacted someone at the VA to learn how to reach him. It
was frustrating to have someone steal his wallet while he was a guest in our
city, and you all showed the best qualities of our city. You and your volunteers
are wonderful!
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Chris Miller
Co-Chair, Event Committee
Historic Fort Wayne, Inc.
Currently working on pics for 2009 - CHECK BACK!
CLICK HERE - Past
Pictures for 2008 Event
Please write your
representatives and tell them you do not approve of past mistakes and want clean
water for our future and would support efforts with your kind volunteer time.
Please
email Abigail Frost or call (260) 417-2500 if you have any questions or comments.
Please join Save Maumee on Earth Day
to celebrate the cleansing of the riverbanks and and rally the community’s
awareness about our 3 River’s condition in Fort Wayne. Educational information
will be available.
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