Last year I helped clean up the Chicago River at Bubbly Creek, and this year they needed a site captain for the Riverside Shopping Center so I volunteered for that.
The site is on the west bank of the Chicago River south of Archer Avenue, behind the shopping center at Ashland Avenue. It was a stretch about 1,300 feet long or just under 1/4 mile, and nearly all of it was a sheer drop-off into the river.
My neighbor agreed to be my co-captain and this morning we drove to the Riverside Shopping Center for the Chicago River Day Clean Up. We stopped for some coffee, arrived about 8:40 and waited for other volunteers to show up. It started raining just as we were leaving, but stopped about the time we were getting out of the car.
There were 27 people registered for the site, but I guess the weather dampened their spirits and only 9 showed up. Once I collected all the waivers and gave the safety speech we split up into two groups. After three hours picked up enough trash to fill up thirty-one trash bags. Everything was wet and slippery, but I’m thankful no one went in the water or got hurt.