Talking Trash

Don Watson, Eric Baiz, Rob Lomax, Dick Luchtman and Shawn from DPW.

For the first time, Historic Meridian Park teamed with its neighbors to the south, Haywood Park, in a joint Alley Cleanup on April 26. With a turnout of around 35 participants, which included volunteers from the youth group at Trinity Church, the work went smoothly and finished early.

Dick Luchtman, cleanup manager and official HMP ‘Titan of Trash,’ assigned teams to various alleys with rakes, bags, shovels and brooms—all provided at no-cost by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. According to Dick, “I think trash, talk trash, and twice a year, I am one with trash.”

Once each team was finished, a packer truck picked up the collected trash and large items. Afterwards, everyone gathered for lunch at Redeemer Church. Doug Day, president of the HMP Neighborhood Association, said “This is the kind of neighbor to neighbor cooperation that makes this job fun.”

The joint effort between HMP and Haywood Park was part of the Mapleton Fall Creek cleanup this year, organized by Kevin Warren. Because of Kevin’s efforts, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful provided the packer truck for free.

Marc McAleavey of Haywood Park said “The real success of the day, from my perspective, was the new connections we all made. A smashing-trashy hit, if I do say so myself…with an extra special thanks to our Meridian Park pals for really putting it together and inviting us to the action!”

Bob Bronson, Amy Rubin and Christy Krieg. “I was so proud to work behind and RIDE the packer truck. What a thrill!”, Krieg said.