Over the weekend, Hahn and the Rotary, along with other groups from SUNY Fredonia, Dunkirk and Fredonia Middle and High Schools, the Fredonia Middle School Service Learning Club and other various volunteers made a concerted effort to clean up both Point Gratiot and Wright Park in Dunkirk. To start off, the volunteers were graced with a beautiful day for the clean up.

“It went great,” Hahn said. “It initially seemed like a rainy day, but it ended up being perfect weather. It was sunny and 61.”

The scheduled cleanups went from 9 to 11 a.m. at Point Gratiot, and then from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Wright Park.

Hahn said that 107 volunteers came out for the morning pick up at Point Gratiot, while 47 came around for the afternoon pickup, with many of the volunteers pulling double duty. Hahn also reported that they ended up picking up a good amount of trash.

“We picked up 554 pounds of trash at Point Gratiot, and at Wright Park, we picked up about 220 pounds of trash,” Hahn said.

The trash ranged from small things such as broken pieces of plastic, bottle caps, and vape tubes, to much larger things like tires, pieces of plywood, and even a plastic pool slide. Hahn said that the volunteers couldn’t believe what they were finding, but were happy to be able to tidy up the beaches.

“I know for me, and a lot of people mentioned it to me, it had a real impact on people who had not previously done a clean up like this,” Hahn said. “We all shared the sense that we all go to Point Gratiot and never think of it as being filled with trash. I wondered if we would have enough trash for the volunteers to pick up, but it’s endless. It looked fantastic afterward.”

In addition to the Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary, the Rotaract Club from SUNY Fredonia, as well as boy scouts, and National Honor Society students from both Dunkirk and Fredonia High Schools. In addition, the age range of the volunteers was also highly varied.

“There were children there with their parents, infants in carriers, all the way to the elderly,” Hahn said. “And students all across the spectrum, from both middle schools and high schools and college students.”

To organize the cleanup, Hahn and the Rotary worked with Christina Jarvis from SUNY Fredonia, as they had to register the project through the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Jarvis, who has organized these kinds of cleanups in the past, was instrumental in explaining the benefit of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

“She was super helpful,” Hahn said. “She did a little introduction for everyone in the morning, and told everyone about the benefits.”

Hahn’s co-leader in the project was Lisa Fortna.

The project took a couple weeks to put together, as they had to register through the Adopt a Beach program, watch some instructional videos, and purchase supplies like disposable gloves and trash bags. Once the volunteers were out, they had to keep track of the kind of trash that was being collected, in order to help the Alliance for the Great Lakes gather as much information as they can.

“For each group of four to six volunteers you sent out, someone had to go out with a clipboard cataloging the types of trash,” Hahn said. “They keep track of exactly what kind of trash is being picked up. The information is useful for the Alliance for the Great Lakes to figure out what is washing up and where it’s washing up from.”

Though the volunteers at both places did their best, Hahn said that part of Wright Park near the Tim Hortons needs more assistance than what a group of volunteers is capable of.

“We had some volunteers go there and that was overwhelming,” Hahn said. “It was a job beyond what volunteers could do. We think the city of Dunkirk needs to do something about that, it’s unbelievable the amount of styrofoam on that beach.”

Despite that part of Wright Park, the volunteers came together to make Point Gratiot and Wright Park more accessible and clean for the growing number of people that will enjoy those trails in the coming months.