Chicago transplant leads Northshore clean-up
Andi Larson, who moved to Jefferson Park in Choto with her husband, Menno Enters, just last November, said she was struck by the amount of trash along that stretch of highway “from the beginning.
“One of the things when I first came down here was seeing the awful trash along Northshore,” she said. “I also noticed people on nextdoor.com complaining about it too, and I thought, ‘I’m just going to clean it up myself.’”
Larson is no stranger to cleaning up trash. She not only works in the energy and sustainability field, she and her family had “adopted” a highway to keep clean in Illinois in honor of Menno’s late wife, Amy.
‘I do have a passion for it,” she said. “I guess you could say I’m a ‘trashy’ type of girl.’”
After putting out a social media announcement for a Saturday, Feb. 13, clean up before it got rained out — falling back on the make-up date of Feb. 20 — Larson and Enters were joined early in the morning by about a dozen volunteers, including Steve and Jill Dismore, Roxanne Miner, Red Macuga and his two nieces, Kaylie and Olivia, and Drew Stillwell.
“I think they were enticed a little by the coffee and donuts,” Larson said with a laugh.
An added and necessary bonus was refuse company Waste Management’s participation, with employees Serge Emelkin and Terrence McClunie on hand to dispose of the refuse as quickly as it was bagged up.
“Waste Management stepped in and brought a garbage truck, and it worked out beautifully,” Larson said. “I really connected with Serge, and know I can count on him to work with me in the future.”
Keep Knoxville Beautiful officials also supported the project by providing safety vests for all the volunteers.
“It was really nice,” she said of the effort, which lasted several hours. “Everybody was really excited about getting the roadway cleared.
“I want to do it again at the next opportunity,” she added.
Larson said they were able to fill “at least 30 garbage bags on one side of the river, near the Cove.
“Now that the water is down, it would be a good time to clean the riverfront,” she added.
Thinking big, “I think we could give Knoxville a facelift. Just imagine how great the world would be if every person just picked up even four pieces of garbage,” Larson said, noting she is “always picking up trash,” and always has a pair of latex gloves, “even though I know it drives my husband crazy.
“But if everybody does just a little bit, it would make such a difference,” she added.
