‘Call to action’: Marysville volunteers aim for 2,000 bags of litter

MARYSVILLE — Toni Kief loves stories. A prolific writer, she normally has plenty to spare. But when she found herself dealing with a case of writer’s block during the pandemic, she had to do something to find inspiration.

So she started taking walks. Long drawn to the storytelling possibilities of cemeteries, Kief began in St. Mary’s Cemetery on State Avenue. Because she couldn’t stand to see the trash littering the street, she started picking it up. She has since filled up over 1,300 bags with garbage.

On Tuesday, Kief led about a dozen volunteers from the newly formed Marysville Litter League on a litter pickup walk. She’s also the city’s April Volunteer of the Month. City spokesperson Bridgette Larsen dubbed Kief the “unofficial team captain” for the Litter League and “a huge inspiration” for anyone else wanting to pick up litter.

The city is challenging volunteers to pick up 2,000 bags of litter total this year. Larsen described the group as a “call to action” to encourage people to help clean up their neighborhoods. Volunteers will count their own bags of litter, taking pictures if possible, and send that information either to city social media accounts or over email to socialnetworking@marysvillewa.gov.

The litter walk led by Kief, held in honor of Earth Day on Saturday, started in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and continued down 88th Street and eventually into the cemetery. Mayor Jon Nehring attended the walk, where city staff handed out “litter pickup kits” containing litter pickers, latex gloves, garbage bags, reflector vests, stickers and information sheets.

Good Samaritans who missed the event can still get kits during business hours at the Marysville Community Center, 1015 State Ave., or the Marysville Civic Center, 501 Delta Ave.

Volunteers who accumulate large quantities of trash can look out for the Marysville Clean Sweep set for May 13 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., where people people can drop off trash or recycling for free. The event will be held at Marysville Public Works, 80 Columbia Ave.

Kief brought her cat, Poppy, to the litter walk in a stroller. Her three cats often go with her on walks.

She also brought her bottomless cache of stories, like the time she made a date stop in the cemetery where Edgar Lee Masters was buried or the time she listened to the first Beatles record and vowed never to see them in concert so Paul McCartney wouldn’t fall in love with her and quit music.

“I speak to everybody” on walks, Kief said. “I also believe everybody wants to be seen.”

Juanita and Pete Pias, who joined on the walk, have been picking up litter since the start of the year. Like Kief, they started noticing garbage on the streets during walks they took during the pandemic.

Helping to clean it up, Juanita Pias said, “makes us feel good.”

Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.