Instead of making tragedy the focus of the day, the Muncie Sanitary District pulled together efforts on Sept. 11, a national day of service, to clean the White River.
This statewide event involved hundreds of volunteers, including Ball State students and concerned Muncie residents.
"I truly believe in public health. This is a large part of public health," said Christine Dely-Stinson, leader of wetlands section and member of the health department. "We can't rely on somebody else to protect our environment, we all have to pitch in and keep walking along the river and give back to the community."
Volunteers from Muncie covered nine sections of the river, carrying garbage along in a canoe to drop-off points. At these drop-offs, a truck was used for the larger loads and John Deere Gators for everything else.
"I can remember when this river was filthy," Dely-Stinson said. "People come out here and are like, ‘I can't believe how much trash is in this river and how dirty it is.' And I think, ‘you have no idea how much work has been put out here.'
"You have to protect the resources, and the river is one of our best kept secrets in Muncie. I want everyone to come down and enjoy it."
A bicycle was pulled out of the river and a whole car seat was found wrapped in the roots of a tree on the riverbank, but the team did not give up and retrieved the litter.
Muncie Sanitary District coordinator Shareen Wagley said this was the sixth river cleanup.
"I think it's great to see all these people show up and get involved," she said. "I think last year we pulled out 15,000 pounds of trash out of the water because you would think it would go down every year, but so far it hasn't."
She said last year they pulled out a recliner weighing an estimated 800 pounds, which took 10 men to pull out.
"We've had some really unique things," Wagley said.
View an audio slideshow of the White River Clean-Up: http://www.bsudailynews.com/soundslide-white-river-clean-up-1.2326465
Event sponsors
Indiana American Water
Muncie Sanitary District
Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful
Muncie Delaware County Stormwater Management
The town of Yorktown
Minnetrista Cultural Center
MITS
Ball State
White River Watershed Project
Normal City Fly Fishers Club
Canoe Country
Union Chapel Church
Alpha Water Conditioning
Mid States Concessions
Walmart
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