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Sound Rivers Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz teamed up with Women’s Clubs of North Carolina members last Saturday for a day of action.

“We had people from multiple different Women’s Clubs at the event. It was the Women’s Club Day of Action Junior ‘fun day’ which got kids and their families involved,” Emily said.

Approximately 20 people volunteered to learn a bit of history about the Walnut Creek Wetland Center in Raleigh, the grab pickers and bags to scour State Street for trash before heading back to the grounds of the Wetland Center to clean out Sound Rivers’ trash trap on Little Rock Creek.

“We removed 83.21 pounds of trash out of the creek — notable finds were a huge tire and some stuffed animals,” Emily said.

Emily said the day of action came about because several of the Women’s Clubs of North Carolina have similar projects/goals focusing on environmental justice and conservation.The statewide campaign for 2022-24 is “Climate, Advocacy, Resiliency, Education, and Sustainability” with the overarching goal “… to educate those in North Carolina on how they can, in their individual homes and communities, help lessen the impacts of climate change and advocate for broader changes throughout the state and country.” 

The bonus for the day, Emily said, was while cleaning out the trash trap, a butterfly visited for a while, landing on her and several volunteers.

“We took that as a good sign, that the butterfly was saying thanks for cleaning up their home,” Emily said.

Xylem, a global water-technology firm, is a sponsor of the Raleigh trash trap.