UPDATED: 🎥 Hundreds of volunteers gather for the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up at Smoky Hill River
Posted Apr 29, 2024 8:47 PM
By OLIVIA BERGMEIER Lead Reporter - Salina Post
Groups of Salina residents ventured up and down the Smoky Hill River tucked closely to the Salina Family YMCA on Saturday, with teams armed with trash pickers with a shared goal — taking time to beautify their community.
Kansas Wesleyan University students use pruning sheers to cut down and remove clumps invasive Asian bush honeysuckle during the 2024 Spring Spruc-Up event at the Friends of the River Foundation Trail on Saturday, April 27, in Salina. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier
Along the new Friends of the River Foundation trail, dozens of Kansas Wesleyan University (KWU) students used pruning sheers to cut down and remove heaps of invasive Asian bush honeysuckle.
Hundreds of KWU students volunteered to help at the trail for the community Spring Spruce-Up event in town, with most representing various sporting teams at the university.
Groups of volunteers use trash pickers and black garbage bags to pick up and remove bits of waste like plastic sacks, and according to Friends of the River Foundation Executive Director Jane Anderson, a large amount of fast food waste. These volunteers gathered along the Smoky Hill River for the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up community event on Saturday, April 27, in Salina. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier
Three KWU women's volleyball team members, Abigail Palmer, Emma Massey and Laney Carlin, balanced carefully on a fallen log across the Smoky Hill River near the trail while using trash pickers to snag bits of plastic bags and other waste.
Kansas Wesleyan University (KWU) women's volleyball player Abigail Palmer reaches for a piece of plastic trash during the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up on Saturday, April 27, on the banks of the Smoky Hill River in Salina. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier
"The Salina community does such a good job supporting us. Our games are always packed in the stands and so they donate so much and do so much for us," Palmer said. "We just think it's important to also do that for them."
Kansas Wesleyan University (KWU) women's basketball player Payten Devold carries a bundle of Asian bush honeysuckle shrubs after removing the invasive species from the Friends of the River Foundation trail during the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up on Saturday, April 27, in Salina. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier
Carlin began her first year at KWU in the fall of 2023. She said learning about the local community and its interest in agriculture inspired her to help create a healthier environment.
"[I want to help] make sure that they've got the ability to do those things and create a healthier environment for us," Carlin said. "I think it's a small way of giving back, and if people around town see college students doing this or high schoolers, students, it sets the standard."
Friends of the River Foundation Executive Director Jane Anderson carries a bundle of chopped-down Asian bush honeysuckle branches after Kansas Wesleyan University (KWU) students removed the invasive species from the Friends of the River Foundation trail on Saturday, April 27, in Salina. These volunteers gathered for the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up. Photo by Olivia BergmeierKansas Wesleyan University (KWU) men's volleyball player Barry Neff stuffs Asian bush honeysuckle branches into the back of a pickup truck after other KWU students cut down and removed the invasive bush from the Friends of the River Foundation trail during the 2024 Spring Spruce-Up on Saturday, April 27, in Salina. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier
Volunteers gathered across town for the community event, with several donating time at the Ashby House, Downtown Salina, North Town, The Temple and more.
