News

Washington resident Sheri Dean believes “if you see something, do something,” and put the phrase into action last week with a clean-up of Jack’s Creek.

“I walk by Jack’s Creek every day, and sometimes you just look at all the trash. It can be depressing,” Sheri said.

That’s why last Saturday she took the initiative, put a call out on a local events page and hosted her own clean-up event. She also reached out Sound Rivers to see if she could get some assistance in the creek-cleaning endeavor, and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman was happy to provide gloves, pickers and a first aid kit for the team of volunteers.

“It’s awesome that Sheri and likeminded others take ownership of our local waterways and value them as much as we do,” Katey said.

Volunteers split up to comb either side of Jack’s Creek from East Main Street to Fifth Street, picking of plenty of garbage along the way.

“We picked up at least 16 bags of trash. I don’t know how it all gets into the creek, I guess it blows in there, but that was a lot of trash for three hours,” Sheri said, adding that the majority of trash picked up was beer cans, soda cans and single-use plastic bags. “But I also found a telephone and a plastic dinosaur.”

It’s not the first impromptu clean-up Sheri has hosted on Jack’s Creek: she’s done two previous cleanups. Katey said she encourages people anyone interested to do the same.

“If anyone sees any particularly trashy areas around their local waterway, let us know, and we can help organize your cleanup,” she said.

Thank you, Sheri, for hosting your Jack’s Creek cleanup!