Volunteers respond to clean up Parkrose streets

Learn what prompted this effort was undertaken in outer East Portland – to clean up both neighborhood streets, and the neighborhood’s business district …

Volunteers check in, as the Parkrose neighborhood and business district street clean-up project gets underway.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

In the past, volunteers have been removing trash and rubbish along NE Sandy Boulevard, primarily in the Parkrose Neighborhood Business District.

But, on June 19, some 40 people arrived to help at a wider clean-up – along both residential streets and those in the commercial district. Most had signed up in advance at the Oregon SOLVE website.

Clean-up organizer, Historic Parkrose Community Outreach Coordinator, and Chair of the Parkrose Neighborhood Association, Annette Stanhope informs volunteers what NOT to pick up, before heading out along their routes.

At this event, volunteers met at 10 a.m., at the Parkrose School District offices on NE Prescott Street.

After getting their instructions, and choosing which blocks each would service, the volunteers fanned out – one group heading north of Prescott Street along the “number” avenues, picking up refuse along a block of NE Sandy Boulevard, before heading back to the rally point.

St. Rita’s Catholic Church offered the use of restrooms for those who needed them.

These volunteers aren’t standing around, checking for text messages; instead, using technology, volunteers pull up digital maps of their assigned routes on their smart phones.

“We usually do litter pickups in the summer, but haven’t been able to do so during the pandemic,” remarked the organizer, Historic Parkrose Community Outreach Coordinator Annette Stanhope, after the cleanup had ended.

“The area between NE Prescott and Sandy (and including Sandy Boulevard) tends to accumulate the most litter, and it’s where a lot of our BIPOC community and low-income community lives. So we decided to clean that area first this summer,” Stanhope told East Portland News.

Ready to head out for a morning of trash removal are volunteers Michelle Kimble, Sadie Baker Kimble, and Jason Baker.

The result: This street clean-up, put on by the Parkrose Neighborhood Association, Historic Parkrose, and sponsored by SOLVE, covered a 20-block area, and the garbage and debris collected filled a 20-yard drop box, reported Stanhope

“For those who participated, I hope they enjoyed connecting with neighbors, and felt good about cleaning up part of the neighborhood,” Stanhope commented. “And, for those who saw us out there, I hope they’re now encouraged to also find ways to contribute to, and lift up, their community and neighbors!”

Along a residential Parkrose neighborhood street, we came across Dominique Dallmayr and Keegan Donahue picking up refuse.

To find out more about Historic Parkrose, see their official website: CLICK HERE.

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