When in Rome

When In Rome…

Wednesday morning the Tour 40 team met with enthusiastic volunteers of all ages at Rome Point in the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve in Saunderstown, RI. After a great introduction to the area by Ranger John Downing the group took a hike through the preserve on the way to what would affectionately be called the trash pit. The trash pit has long been an illegal dumping site in the area and expectedly the low lying area was filled with a variety of trash including appliances, automobiles and decades of household refuse. The Southwest volunteers went to work in a fashion that the Tour 40 Team has become accustom to, which is quickly and efficiently filling bag after bag and wheelbarrow upon wheelbarrow .
We quickly realized that if there was one good thing about the trash pit it was that at least it was filled with interesting trash. For the duration of the clean-up many volunteers participated in a very informal Who Can Find the Strangest Item? competition. Some of my personal favorite finds include a creepy doll head, a scuba flipper and an extremely bent up tricycle.
This day of service was wildly successful. After several hours of hard work from our volunteers it looked like a brand new pit. We took out over 65 bags of trash, 7 wheelbarrows of scrap metal, 2 refrigerators and a dryer. Thanks to the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve for hosting us and as always thanks to all the volunteers who came out and made this yet another awesome Tour 40 event!

Andrew Bousquet
Tour 40 Team