HoWL (Homer Wilderness Leaders) Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in Homer in 2009. The mission of the organization is to empower young leaders through fun and dynamic Alaskan wilderness adventures in the summers. Activities include camping, backpacking, kayaking, climbing and more. Dirtbag Clean-up Week is an event where HoWL students come together to pick up as much litter as possible from Homer and the surrounding areas. The event is co-sponsored with Homer’s Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. Molly Mitchell, program director with HoWl provided more details on the event over the past few years.
“So last year we had 68 youth participants pick up 312 bags of trash, which was very impressive, and this year we are trying to get even more youth participants so we can pick up even more trash. And I think part of the magic of dirt bag cleanup week is that we have a lot of fun picking up litter. So, some youth get really competitive and some get really collaborative or focused on a specific goal, but I think we all get to see the impact that we can have picking up just for a few hours after school for a week, on cleaning up Homer and a lot of youth will actually pick up outside of dirt bag hours and spend even more time picking up trash because of that motivation,” Mitchell said.
Pre-registration for the event is requested so that HoWL can keep track of the number of participants and amount of trash collected., but it is not required if youth simply want to show up and participate. For registration details visit the website: howlalaska.org.
“We meet at Bishop's beach: Monday through Friday, from 3:30 to 5:30, and 4:15 to 5:30. On Saturday we'll meet at Bishop’s from 11 to 2:00. And on Saturday we also have our big celebration, where we have a pizza party. Everyone who's participated throughout the week gets prizes and we also give out special dirt bag awards, such as dirtiest dirt bag, maybe the person who's not afraid to to get in the ditches and get that dirty trash that no one else wants to or micro trash master, someone focused on the little bits and most trash, of course, someone who's picked up the most trash during the week,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that generally the groups try to cover as much ground as possible from Baycrest to the Spit but if youth in the groups have particular areas of interest: places near their homes or where they may have noticed a large amount of trash, those might be target areas for the groups, also. HoWL provides water, snacks, all garbage bags needed and precautionary safety notification prior to the start of the events. Mitchell said adults are welcome to participate as well but are not eligible for the awards provided at the end of the week ceremony.
“I would mention that by participating in HoWL Dirtbag cleanup week, youth can also earn scholarships for HoWL summer camps. So, if they're signed up already, or want to sign up, they can participate in in cleanup week and collect pledges from businesses and community members to put toward a Howell scholarship, and then also, this is a great way for youth to earn community service hours if they're looking to get outside and complete service hours in a fun way,” she said.
Mitchell concluded with one more interesting detail about the annual event: since 2011 when Dirt Bags started, 968 youth have participated and picked up over 2000 bags of trash.
This year will also feature an opening celebration event at Alice’s on April 17th: the Dirtbag Ball. This is a pizza and ice cream sundae party for participants, starting at 6 PM and will end with a 21+ over dance party. Tickets will be available at the door at Alice’s and more information is available on the HoWL website.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
