On a hot Saturday morning — even in the shade — Jude Swanson walked along the Dan River with a orange trash bag in one hand and a grabber tool in the other. When the executive director of House of Hope homeless shelter would spot some kind of trash, he’d dart over to it, pick it up and place it in the bag. It could be a soda can, candy wrapper or water bottle.
Sometimes he was overeager. “Oh, that’s a mushroom,” he said of something that looked like a balled-up napkin but turned out to be just a creation of nature. Making their way across the pedestrian bridge on the Danville Riverwalk Trail on Saturday are Joel Lawrence, community donor coordinator for the United Way of Danville and Pittsylvania County, left, and Jude Swanson, the executive director of House of Hope homeless shelter in Danville.
The pair were among about two dozen volunteers who spent Saturday morning cleaning up trash along the Dan River. Swanson was one of about two dozen volunteers cleaning up the Danville Riverwalk Trail for the United Way of Danville-Pittsylvania County’s Day of Action. Although the worldwide event was observed Friday, the local group decided to bring people together bright and early Saturday morning.
The goal of the Day of Action is rather simple: bring community members together to improve the places they call home. There were some who signed up a few weeks go, but decided the temperatures were simply to hot to be out and about. Cathy Gore, president and CEO of the Unite.
