Forty-odd Pacific Lutheran students, local high school students and Parkland residents gave up several hours of their Saturday to work together towards a common goal: community beautification.
They donned work clothes and gloves and got to work cleaning up the Community Garden, planting native plants in the hillside habitat restoration area and picking up litter from the streets of Parkland.
Eco-justice advocate Princess Reese, a senior, who organized the event, said the purpose of the event was to unite the PLU and Parkland communities and foster a sense of care for one another.
“We live in Parkland, and so care for our community is care for ourselves,” Reese said.
The event was a collaboration between various organizations on campus, including the Diversity Center, the Sustainability Department and the Center for Community Engagement.
Garden Manager Jennifer Watt, a junior, said it was “awesome” having so many people help out at the Community Garden. “We’ve gotten more done [in one hour] than we could have gotten done in four different work parties, two hours each,” she said.
Reese said she hopes to have a Community Beautification Day twice a year in the future, once in fall and once in spring. “ Hopefully our efforts will continue to grow,” she said.
