On Jan. 10, community members participated in a post-holiday season cleanup
By OLIVIA HOKR — city@theaggie.org
On Friday, Jan. 10, the Make Davis Sparkle event was hosted in partnership with Davis Picks It Up, the Davis Chamber of Commerce, the city of Davis Parks & Community Services, the Davis Downtown Business Association and more departments and organizations.
Make Davis Sparkle is a community cleanup reliant on volunteers that occurs four times per year. The first cleanup of the year was deemed successful with the help of nearly 35 volunteers who filled approximately 15 trash bags in just an hour and a half.
Jenny Tan, the city of Davis’ director of community engagement, emphasized the significance of bringing people together to work hand in hand — making big changes in Davis with the enthusiasm and effort of the community.
“This community belongs to everyone who lives and works here,” Tan said. “So, it’s important to strengthen our connection to it through volunteering in some way to help make Davis a better place to live and work for us all.”
Davis Picks It Up is an organization of volunteers within Davis who work together year-round to promote a clean city. Cathie Bullis co-founded Davis Picks It Up three years ago and has continued working to make a difference.
“In January 2022 as the pandemic was starting to wind down, I was walking in my neighborhood and noticed a lot of litter along the streets and felt a strong urge to remove it,” Bullis said. “I grabbed a bag and a litter-picker tool and started to pick up litter and trash along the streets near my home.”
Bullis further discussed the organization and the improvements made over the years.
“I co-founded Davis Picks It Up as a sister group to Sacramento Picks It Up in January 2022. It’s been a huge success and we just keep growing. We have made a visible difference in Davis and it feels very rewarding. We also have many ‘solo’ pickers who clean up the parks, green belts and in their neighborhood which is paramount to our continued success.”
Bullis expressed the immense achievements of participating in community cleanup events. Davis Picks It Up hosts one to three of their own group cleanups per month, along with more frequent smaller cleanups with a few volunteers.
“These events give us a great sense of community and accomplishment,” Bullis said. “We get outside for a little exercise, meet our neighbors, share information, laugh, compare notes, talk about the things we find and share a common goal by making Davis cleaner and safer. It’s also brought tremendous awareness into the world of trash and litter in Davis that we all need to pitch in to help.”
Davis Picks It Up is always accepting new volunteers via their Facebook or email, davispicksitup@gmail.com, and also has a monthly newsletter with upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. There will be three more Make Davis Sparkle cleanups this year, with additional cleanups hosted by the city and outside organizations. To stay updated on these volunteer opportunities, check out the city of Davis’ Facebook account or website.
Written by: Olivia Hokr — city@theaggie.org
