Community cleans up Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE - On a windy but sunny spring morning, community members from Moses Lake volunteered a portion of their Saturday to help clean up the city.

Alan Heroux, with Vision 2020, said fewer people showed up for the Citywide Clean-Up this year compared to previous years.

But pickup trucks filled with garbage began pulling in to the aquatic center parking lot about 10:30 a.m.

The group of about 250 volunteers met in the parking lot, picking up yellow vests and garbage bags, and removed garbage from most of the main streets around Moses Lake.

Mayor Bill Ecret, who used his truck to pick up full bags along the road, said the clean up is always something that needs to be done.

"We have always been very lucky to have this many people come out and contribute their time on a Saturday whether the weather is sun-shiny or whether the weather's bad, to pick up garbage," he said.

"Anything we can do to make our city look better, it's always a positive. It's a plus for people wanting to relocate here, for people to live here."

Ecret added many community groups come to him throughout the year looking to participate in similar projects and many of the groups head out on their own to clean up.

"It's nice to have that many volunteers," he said.

Groups from Home Depot, the Mae Valley 4-H Club, Genie Industries, Eka Chemicals and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated in the event.

A crew from Lakeside Disposal was on hand with a garbage truck collecting the trash brought in.

After a few hours of work, volunteers were treated to a free lunch of hotdogs and hamburgers donated by Michael's on the Lake.

This was the 11th year of the Citywide Clean-Up, and Heroux said each year, there's less garbage that needs to be picked up.