LBCC Students Make Their Mark on Waverly Park

Students from Linn-Benton left a lasting impact on their community and earned volunteer credits by removing graffiti and clearing fallen branches from Waverly Park.

On Saturday, Feb. 3, LBCC’S Student Leadership Council partnered with the City of Albany’s Adopt-A-Park Program to clean up Waverly Park.

Both groups arrived at the Waverly Lake parking lot around 10 a.m. to set up before the volunteers arrived. The Student Leadership Council set up a table with a variety of black and blue T-shirts for volunteers, as well as coffee, donuts, and fresh fruit. The Adopt-A-Park Program, which is operated by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, brought a trailer full of rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, gloves, graffiti-cleaning supplies, paint buckets, and many more materials. 

Upon arriving at the park at 11 a.m. the Adopt-A-Park Program had students fill out a sheet with their information and volunteer hours. Student Life and Leadership Program Assistant, Amanda Mendell, recommended that students also log their volunteer hours on Noble Hour to earn benefits at LBCC. Serving 100 volunteer hours can earn LB students up to three paid tuition credits. 

Around 10 student volunteers showed up to help between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The students were assigned to help with picking up litter and fallen branches or to remove graffiti. The majority of students went straight to work moving fallen branches and twigs out of the vivid green grass and into rustic wheelbarrows. Twigs and leaves were swept off the sidewalk. Volunteers then transferred everything into a heaping pile in the parking lot. 

As he was moving piles of branches from underneath trees, SLC Executive Assistant Jack Hennum said he came because “I really like the SLC, and I think Peeta (Arenas-Galicia) the volunteer coordinator is doing a great job, so I wanted to help her out.” Hennum is majoring in political science and said he volunteered at one of the beach clean-ups a few terms ago. 

Two other volunteers were assigned to remove graffiti from the tile walls of a tunnel that leads into the park. For more than an hour, they used graffiti-removing spray and rags to scrub off the vandalism. Typically the Adopt-A-Park Program uses paint to cover graffiti because it’s less harmful to the environment, but the spray was more effective on the tile in this case. The park had multiple walls and tunnels that were covered in spray-painted markings.

Leighara Gottfried, one of the students scrubbing off graffiti, said she came to the event because she thought it was a cool opportunity to help out and get involved. Gottfried is a freshman majoring in mechatronics at LBCC.

When asked how the clean-up event first started, Mendell said the Student Leadership Council “officially adopted Waverly Park two years ago.”

According to Mendell, the SLC typically hosts a park clean-up once per term with a group of volunteers. “It’s a great way to connect the students with the community and make a direct impact,” she said. 

As the program assistant, Mendell helps coordinate SLC events, sits in on the event task force and helps guide them, assists volunteers in a variety of ways, and works with clubs as an advisor. 

The SLC coordinates the clean-up events and recruits volunteers each term, while the Adopt-A-Park Program provides the tools and cleaning supplies. 

According to Adopt-A-Park Coordinator Jill Van Buren, there are currently 36 parks, trails, and natural areas within the city of Albany. Thirty-three of these have been adopted by organizations, churches, or schools such as LBCC. 

Adopting a park generally means volunteering some of your time to look after it, keep it clean, and help the wildlife thrive. According to the city, sometimes it simply means keeping an eye on it and reporting any problems to local authorities.  

Van Buren has been a part of the Adopt-A-Park Program for three years and has recently been working with two other volunteer groups, the Graffiti Chasers and the Diggers. She is passionate about removing graffiti and preserving the natural beauty of Albany’s parks and trails. 

Spray-painted art was found on the wall of the park’s public restroom. Van Buren recognized the other graffiti next to the art as being from a local gang. According to her, local gangs tend to move on from the area when they see that their graffiti has been covered. If the graffiti is artistic and not from a gang, Van Buren said it’s not necessary to remove.

While explaining how Adopt-A-Park works, Van Buren picked up trash that she found along the sidewalk and grass. She also discovered a shopping cart on the sidewalk filled with empty water bottles. Dozens of bottle caps were found discarded by the shopping cart. Van Buren filled the shopping cart with the bag of trash and some signs she had collected. She then wheeled the grocery cart through the park and back to the parking lot. 

The next day after the event, the ​​Parks and Recreation Department retrieved the garbage and branches that had been collected. “Leaves and branches were mulched for use in gardens. Other trash was taken to the dump with the rest of parks’ garbage,” said Van Buren.

“I have to say, LB is one of the more proactive. They do a really good job. They show up, they know what they’re doing, the kids come. We tell them what we think needs to be done, they’re out there, they do it. They’re really a fine example of Adopt-A-Park volunteers and the whole concept,” said Van Buren.

In the future, Mendell hopes the SLC can recruit even more volunteers for clean-ups so they can cover more areas of the park. 

“It’s such a large park and it is one of the few places that can protect those without homes. It does tend to accumulate a lot more trash and debris just from that, so I think being able to get down here more often and have more people would make us a lot more effective,” she said.

Looking to get involved with LB clean-up events like this in the future? Check out www.noblehour.com/linnbenton.

Interested in adopting a park or helping at outdoor clean-up events outside of LB? Fill out the form on www.albanyoregon.gov/parks/work/adopt-a-park or contact Jill Van Buren at mjvb47@gmail.com. 

At a Glance: 

What: Waverly Park Clean-Up Day

When: Saturday, Feb. 3

Where: Waverly Lake Park. 3154 Pacific Blvd. SE, Albany