Unfortunately, homeless camps and dumpster-diver camps are often located in riparian zones (the strip of land along the edges of a river, stream or wetland) within towns and cities and are a major contributor to the trash load in our waterways. In effect, there's a slow moving conveyor belt that carries trash from the dumpsters, retail zone parking lots, and off the back of Johnny's pick up truck (illegal dumping), through the riparian areas where the homeless and dumpster diving camps are located, and into the water when normal, annual flooding comes up and grabs it. Cleaning up these areas of concentrated litter (and identifying mitigation strategies) is a big part of what we do. ​​

To be clear, we're here neither to enable littering or trespassing, nor to assign blame by labeling folks as lazy or criminals. We simply believe that anyone who finds themselves digging through a dumpster for food or other necessities of life deserves our compassion.

 In our experience, the trash left behind from these camps are a primary driver of the negative public perception toward homeless people. By cleaning up the camps quickly, we're not only reducing the environmental damage (our chief goal), but also helping to reduce the negative public attitude toward the homeless population. We hope that this will ultimately result in kinder and gentler public policies toward mental illness, addiction, and the many other causal mechanisms of homelessness.​​

Our clean-up events are mostly accomplished by regular folks like you and me who want to be part of the solution. And we have some fun, join in community, and get a little exercise in the process. We might work for 15 minutes or 2 hours...whatever our schedule allows. And there's no rush so we work at our own pace. Just bring a pair of work gloves and wear not-sandals, and the non-profit supplies everything else. We'll circle up, talk about litter-gathering safety, do a quick meet and greet, and then grab our gear and let the magic begin. ​

We only clean up abandoned camps and never sites that are occupied, so our clean-up events are usually "on demand" when a site is vacated. So it's difficult to plan a schedule very far ahead. Follow us on social media or send a message or email to Joe if you're interested in helping! (We also love to partner with churches and other civic groups for clean-up events.)

The fact that you're reading this means that you are already a part of the solution. Thank you.

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-Joe letsche​​​​​