An Xbox, three and a half tires, a trash can and a chair, along with 18 bags of trash, were collected by 17 Elon employees during a recent cleanup in Alamance County.
The Sustainability Employee Resource Group at Elon participated in the 36th Haw River Assembly Clean-Up-A-Thon in March, where they cleaned up Swepsonville River Park in Graham, North Carolina.
The Haw River Assembly reports that, this year, 346 volunteers retrieved 312 bags and 54 tires from streams and creeks across sections of the Haw River watershed. Participants said that the most interesting objects found were a coconut and an Xbox.
The ERG came together for lunch and a presentation on pollution issues associated with the Haw River before heading out to the site. The area they cleaned is part of the Haw River Trail, which provides public access to the Haw River across 80 miles of paths. The presentation helped set context for the day’s effort and provided an educational opportunity for employees to learn more about the communities near where they work.
Kelly Harer is the associate director of sustainability for education and outreach at Elon and leads the Sustainability ERG, which hosted this opportunity for employees. She said that, in her experience working with the Staff Advisory Council, faculty and staff are regularly looking for opportunities to get involved and use volunteer hours that come as a benefit of being an employee at Elon. Partnering with the Haw River Assembly was a natural fit for this goal.
“Employees not only want to volunteer, they also want to volunteer with other people,” said Harer. She added that it can be challenging for employees to identify times to connect with colleagues they already know and those they have not had a chance to meet yet. The Clean-Up-A-Thon granted that space for Sustainability ERG participants.
With no pun intended, Harer added, “the ERG and the Clean-Up-A-Thon are natural organic ways to build community, which I think we’re always aiming to do at Elon.”
“It is important for universities to offer learning opportunities not only to students but also to employees,” said Nicole Bergen, program assistant for the Kernodle Center for Civic Life. “Lifelong learning is invaluable, and the university’s ERGs provide regular, accessible avenues for personal and professional development.”
Bergen participated in the Clean-Up-A-Thon this year and has engaged with various ERGs at Elon. She said that the cleanup was a concerted effort where the Sustainability ERG targeted a specific area near a local waterway to remove trash and debris. This initiative helped to raise awareness about consumption habits and their environmental impacts, while fostering community connections at the river and neighboring creeks.
“I particularly enjoyed collaborating with colleagues from facilities management, carpentry and gardening during the cleanup,” said Bergen. “The cleanup allowed me to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new friends, sharing conversations about fishing on the way to the park.”
She also offered credit for the day’s efforts to Harer for organizing the event, along with Evan Small and Jonathan Brown for hauling tires out of the river and her colleague Sara Beth Hardy for being “incredibly attuned to the needs of our community” and working with Sustainability ERG for this effort.
The Clean-Up-A-Thon adds to a mix of opportunities the Sustainability ERG offers for its participants. The group dedicates some of their meetings to discussions around creating sustainable habits both on and off campus and will engage in events like the annual tree walk with Elon’s arborists Wendy Williams and Terry Rogers.
“It’s really unique that Elon offers a space for employees to connect with colleagues across campus based on interest,” said Harer. “Even seeing someone once at an ERG gives me a friendly face to reach out to if I ever need to connect to their department.”