By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — An Olean woman organized an Earth Day cleanup of the banks along the Allegheny River and Olean Creek that netted over 100 bags of trash on Saturday.
Faith Hustak came up with the idea of cleaning up along waterways in the city — Trash the Trash – Save the River and promoted it through a Facebook page and word of mouth. The Elk’s Club was also invited to participate.
On Saturday, two dozen volunteers showed up at Lincoln Park to get their assignments and orange plastic bags for the trash. After a safety talk, they fanned out to several sites along both the creek and river in the city.
Due to a steady rain, everyone wore rain gear and boots. They wore gloves for safety and worked in pairs. They found the dikes a little slippery from the rain.
“We found some unusual items — a deer head and another skull,” Hustak said later. She said she had been thinking about a cleanup for some time.
“I thought it would be a good time now since Olean has been experiencing major sewer issues and the Senecas were quite upset,” Hustak said. Mayor Amy Sherburne was receptive to the idea when Hustak approached her last month and gave her the go ahead.
City crews will weigh and collect the plastic bags of trash on Monday at Franchot Park where they were brought to from staging areas along the waterways, Hustak said.
She invited schools, clubs, companies and friends to the cleanup and invited others through the Trash the Trash — Save the River! Facebook page.
“I’d do this again,” Hustak told the Olean Star on Sunday. “I did get positive feedback saying it was fun and well-organized. People noted they were happy to help. The only negative would be there is so much more trash out there.”
