COLORADO SPRINGS — This week, a local charity organization is celebrating 100 years of giving back to the Colorado Springs community. More than 100 volunteers have signed up to help out with four projects happening across the city, during what they call ‘Week of Action.’
For three hours on Wednesday morning, more than 40 volunteers showed up to the Sand Creek Trail in Southeast Springs, and they helped clean the open space and trails, and pick up trash to fill dozens of bags.
“When we first got down here, it was a complete mess. piles of trash everywhere scattered,” said Sean Markley, who works with El Paso County Department of Public Works. “I picked up probably 15 to 20 bags of trash. Cleaning up the community and making everything look nice for everybody is a big deal, and also, making everything safe for the people that use these trails.”
Pikes Peak United Way celebrates annually with a Day of Action, but because they’ve been serving the community for 100 years, they wanted to volunteer for a whole week this year.
“It is fascinating to think about starting in 1922, and what that looked like. We were in a response to a lot of war efforts, and oftentimes when there is crisis, United Way is at its best,” said Heather Steinman, the COO of Pikes Peak United Way.
Steinman says this year, the organization has helped fund $1,000,000 for nearly 40 local nonprofits. And prior to Wednesday, the organization identified the Sand Creek Trail as an area that also needed help.
“This area specifically has really in the last year had a lot of trash that has accumulated with a lot of transient people coming in and out,” said Steinman.
County Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez, of District 4, also got his hands dirty to help beautify the district he represents.
“We've been out working since earlier this morning, to support cleanups in our neighborhoods. in our communities,” said Gonzalez. “Definitely, this area needs some TLC. It's a large open space that we're hoping to clean up and beautify this area of town.”>
On Thursday, members from the Ent team will be out to clean up more sections of the Sand Creek Trail. On Tuesday, the team also held a food distribution to provide 10,000 pounds of food to more than 250 families in Southeast Springs. Later this week, they'll be helping with a home build for Habitat for Humanity.
Pikes Peak United Way has many volunteering opportunities. For more information about the organization, click here.
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