For people who get the urge to volunteer, Sonoma County has no shortage of organizations ready to put them to work.
Justin Mann volunteers to clean up Santa Rosa parks. (Jeff Kan Lee)
Whether it’s staffing a hospital gift shop, serving food at the local mission, or just helping out at a school fundraiser, there are plenty of opportunities for people to pitch in.
But not all volunteerism is done through nonprofits or other organized community groups. Some people just see something that needs to get done, roll up their sleeves and do it.
Justin Mann is one of those people.
Three years ago, the 34-year-old window treatment installer was playing with his young son at Santa Rosa’s Pioneer Park near his home when he spotted some broken bottles in the playground.
“I was just like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Mann recalled.
So Mann did what any responsible parent would do. He picked up the shards of glass to make sure his son and other kids would be safe.
But then Mann did something most people don’t. He started making a habit of picking up garbage in city parks.
He started with the parks he and his son frequent, like Pioneer, Coffey, Howarth. Then the list grew to parks all over the city. Just last week he pulled 40 pounds of litter from Finley Park.
“It doesn’t cost me anything but my time,” he said.
Mann said he’s been painfully aware in recent years of the decline in upkeep of the city parks. He knows that budget woes have forced the city to slash the number of parks maintenance workers to just a handful.
“They’re just barely keeping the parks safe for children, let alone cleaning them,” Mann said.
But as a single dad without a lot of spare cash, Mann said parks are hugely important to him and his 4-year-old son Thomas, and he can’t stand by and watch them deteriorate.
“To me, parks are a vital city service, just as important as street signs or police officers,” said Mann.
When he lived in San Francisco several years ago, Mann said his neighbors in the Sunset district were part of a city initiative that encouraged people to keep their several-block area clean, he said.
That spirit of community service stuck, and has been building ever since that day in Pioneer Park.
Some might have just called the city and demanded that city workers come clean up the mess, but Mann said he’s not like that.
“I consider myself part of this city, part of this community, so if something needs to be done, I’m more than happy to do it,” he said.
At first he just started carrying a pair of gloves and some garbage bags in the trunk of his car, and bent down to pick up litter wherever he saw it. After he threw out his back, he graduated to a “garbage claw” that keeps him upright and helps him work faster, he said.
Then last year, after attending a few Occupy Santa Rosa protests, Mann made some great contacts with people committed to making a difference in their community, he said. They inspired him to start a Facebook site called Santa Rosa Utopia. Through it, he organized a city parks cleanup last weekend at Juilliard Park, with the city providing a permit and donating garbage bags.
Mann is even spending his own money on coffee and donuts for volunteers.
Where it goes from here, he’s not sure. He knows it’s hard to get people to volunteer for work as unglamorous as picking up garbage, but he wants to take a shot at organizing a broader, citywide park cleanup effort.
“At some point, somebody’s just got to do it,” Mann said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.
Filling a need
By KEVIN McCALLUM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
For people who get the urge to volunteer, Sonoma County has no shortage of organizations ready to put them to work.
Justin Mann volunteers to clean up Santa Rosa parks. (Jeff Kan Lee)
But not all volunteerism is done through nonprofits or other organized community groups. Some people just see something that needs to get done, roll up their sleeves and do it.
Justin Mann is one of those people.
Three years ago, the 34-year-old window treatment installer was playing with his young son at Santa Rosa’s Pioneer Park near his home when he spotted some broken bottles in the playground.
“I was just like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Mann recalled.
So Mann did what any responsible parent would do. He picked up the shards of glass to make sure his son and other kids would be safe.
But then Mann did something most people don’t. He started making a habit of picking up garbage in city parks.
He started with the parks he and his son frequent, like Pioneer, Coffey, Howarth. Then the list grew to parks all over the city. Just last week he pulled 40 pounds of litter from Finley Park.
“It doesn’t cost me anything but my time,” he said.
Mann said he’s been painfully aware in recent years of the decline in upkeep of the city parks. He knows that budget woes have forced the city to slash the number of parks maintenance workers to just a handful.
“They’re just barely keeping the parks safe for children, let alone cleaning them,” Mann said.
But as a single dad without a lot of spare cash, Mann said parks are hugely important to him and his 4-year-old son Thomas, and he can’t stand by and watch them deteriorate.
“To me, parks are a vital city service, just as important as street signs or police officers,” said Mann.
When he lived in San Francisco several years ago, Mann said his neighbors in the Sunset district were part of a city initiative that encouraged people to keep their several-block area clean, he said.
That spirit of community service stuck, and has been building ever since that day in Pioneer Park.
Some might have just called the city and demanded that city workers come clean up the mess, but Mann said he’s not like that.
“I consider myself part of this city, part of this community, so if something needs to be done, I’m more than happy to do it,” he said.
At first he just started carrying a pair of gloves and some garbage bags in the trunk of his car, and bent down to pick up litter wherever he saw it. After he threw out his back, he graduated to a “garbage claw” that keeps him upright and helps him work faster, he said.
Then last year, after attending a few Occupy Santa Rosa protests, Mann made some great contacts with people committed to making a difference in their community, he said. They inspired him to start a Facebook site called Santa Rosa Utopia. Through it, he organized a city parks cleanup last weekend at Juilliard Park, with the city providing a permit and donating garbage bags.
Mann is even spending his own money on coffee and donuts for volunteers.
Where it goes from here, he’s not sure. He knows it’s hard to get people to volunteer for work as unglamorous as picking up garbage, but he wants to take a shot at organizing a broader, citywide park cleanup effort.
“At some point, somebody’s just got to do it,” Mann said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.