Xavier Angeles

My community service was to clean up the ground of the Washington Park at Union City. This community service was offered by the Organization Save Latin America which is a nonprofit organization, which assist the citizens to be aware of the different State program, at the same time they try to create awareness to the Hispanic population of Union City of the changes in regulations and the importance of serving others. On Saturday 28^th were decided to clean the Washington Park’s ground in the area where the grass was not growing properly and then plan the grass seed. This activity has as purpose to beautify the park and to preserve the green area of the park. Washington Park is the biggest park of Union City and was most of the sport, and families’ activities take place through the year. 

All volunteer was gathered at the entry of the part, and orientation was given in order to be careful with the surrounding and to always used gloves when we were picking up the garbage into the bags. Something that calls my attention was that the bags that were given to us, they were not black garbage bags, instead, they were paper bags. The bags and a rake were given by the organization and we start our duty at 11 AM. The main concept was not to be done by a specific time but to have as much as we could before 3 PM. As the few volunteer and myself started our duty, we realize that it won’t be such an easy task to accomplish, especially because it was a lot of sweeps to do and since the bad grass and other garbage were in the area that makes the accomplishment of our duty a little be more challenging. By 1 Pm our progress did not see so noticeable and personally, I was tired and then the 15 minutes snack break came in. After that mini-break, everyone kept the good attitude until it was 3 PM.

I was amazed by the amount of little garbage that was in the recreation area and by the kids’ playground. Most of that garbage was very small such a candy wrapper, little plastics bad, bottles, and wrapper of snacks for children. Then we have to separate them and sweep the area so all the death crass as pilled, and the trough out the grass seed. At the end of the day, the satisfaction of doing something for the community is very rewarded, and in a few weeks, we should see the results of our hard effort.

The way that this community related to sustainability is to acknowledge that every single action in the environment has its impact in climate-ecosystem in some way or another. Therefore, by preserving and increasing the green area on the park that would just help the park to look better but it also will assist the ecosystem in the park. Moreover, by everyone do their part it is possible to achieve the 17-sustainable development goal. As part of the Gaia theory specify every ecosystem on earth work together to accomplish certain function and that the changes in climate can be prevented by inquiring repetitive actions in society.