Stream Clean-Up

First Presbyterian Church
Kirkwood, MO

For the third consecutive year in 2005, First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood, Missouri will celebrate Earth Day through hands-on community service: cleaning up local creeks. The Social and Environmental Concerns Committee of First Presbyterian sponsored the first annual Community Stream Clean-Up in April 2003. On that first Stream Clean-up day, twenty-eight volunteers of all ages ventured into four storm water creeks with large trash bags. They came out with 1.01 tons of debris, including an automobile transmission and a rusty bed frame! In May 2004, the second (rain-delayed) Stream Clean-Up day was also a success, with even more volunteers and over two tons of trash. The 2004 “haul” included an old TV set and --- yes, really --- a kitchen sink.

First Presbyterian Church regards these clean-up days as vital to caring for God’s creation. Cleaning up creeks in their local watershed is satisfying because “this work not only beautifies the creeks but also makes them safer for area wildlife and promotes free flow of storm water,” says Cathy Yost, a member of the church staff and Social and Environmental Concerns Committee. Volunteers who participated in the Stream Clean-Ups found it hard to believe how much trash had made its way into natural spaces. Church Elder Mike Holley, who partnered for this project with ninth grader Jeff Bertram, commented on the moment when they looked behind them and realized they had made “an ugly, littered ditch into a natural space again.”

Members of First Presbyterian Church
cleaning up their local stream

Volunteer Liz McCane had a strong sense of “being the hands and arms of Christ” as she labored in the stream. Church members argue that keeping waterways clean is a way to answer the scriptural call to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). “Surely clean drinking water is a basic entitlement of the small wild creatures that share our community,” Cathy Yost observed. “After a rain they should be able to enjoy the creeks without the dangers of manmade debris.”