Good Black Dirt Free To Anyone In Bay City

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Bay City Pitches In For Mayor's Annual Community Clean-up Day

April 20, 2013       Leave a Comment
By: Stephen Kent

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Spring brings many things. One of those is the Mayor's Annual Community Clean-Up Day. Citizens, Service Clubs, and others have always come out to help sweep parks, pick up trash, and generally get the parks and public places ready for the outdoor season. This year those people were joined by 400 young people in town for Group Work Camp's Big Day of Service.

Coordinator (and master gardener) Jan Rise summed up the day nicely when she said "I like the fact that we're helping residents to dispose of items that normally would not be picked up on trash day, and that a lot of it is being recycled or going to the proper place and not ending up in a landfill and causing more problems with ground water and pollution because we live on the Saginaw River, the Kawkawlin river, and many other creeks and streams."

One of the most popular events is the annual FREE give away of composted soil that the city makes from yard waste collected all year. The loads of good black dirt were piled in Vets Park where cars, trucks and trailers lined up to get their loads. Many volunteers were on hand to help load the dirt.

For many years First Presbyterian youth have taken summer trips to Group Work Camp. Hundreds of students from all over the US would descend on a community and spend a week working with people who needed help fixing homes and yards. In recent years the program has come to Bay City.

This year a new program called "The Big Day of Serving" has brought the Work Campers to communities for a day of work in programs like the Mayor's Clean-up. This year some 400 students paid for the opportunity to come to Bay City, sleep on the floor of the church or a gym, and spend the day laboring to clean things up.

The kids, and chaperons, were up at the crack of dawn for a cold day with shovels, rakes, and trash bags all over town. They returned to First Pres later in the afternoon for programs and another comfortable night on the floor.

It was a cold and windy day, but the work warmed both the body and the spirit of everyone involved.

Almost a symbol for Clean-up Day, free compost brings out lines of vehicles to get their loads.

Coordinator Jan Rise and Mayor Chris Shannon worked the East Side drop off site.

Bay City Electric customers received free CFL Light bulbs and a tree to plant

Volunteers from the Pony and Little Leagues were on hand to help load compost. They also accepted contributions to support their programs. When he realized that the the dirt was free, one man dug into his wallet saying "In that case let me give you some more".

Discarded PC's and monitors are a growing class of items that can be recycled through proper channels but are not picked up with normal waste.

Work Camp volunteers help clean up Birney Park

Historic Trombley Centre House gets a clean-up and help with the split rail fence.

Workers clean the area around the Veteran's Memorial Garden on the West Side

Chris Girard, CEO of Do-All was out with his people accepting useful items for recycling.

Work Campers spread out in the park to gather trash but also the many small branches that fell during the winter.

Volunteer members from the Little and Pony Leagues were on hand to assist the elderly and disabled to load compost. They also accepted donations that went to the league's programs.

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	Prior Article March 5, 2025 by: Stephen Kent St. Patricks Parade 2025 - IT's TIME
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Stephen Kent
Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations. More from Stephen Kent

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