It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a group of high school students volunteering on the weekend!
Each summer members of the incoming senior class at Edmonds-Woodway High School have joined to form an elite cleaning task force. Their mission: to clean up after the Taste of Edmonds. Their name: the Waste Warriors.
For the past several years the Waste Warriors have volunteered their time with other organizations to help make sure the Taste of Edmonds runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Chris Guitton, executive director of the Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce, said the organization has an agreement specifically outlining the clean up after the Taste.
“We have an agreement with the city for use of Civic Stadium provided we return it in a pristine state … down to the last cigarette butt,” Guitton said.
Guitton described the Waste Warriors as able to have fun but still dedicated to the task at hand.
“They do major work and it gets done well,” Guitton said.
The Waste Warriors do everything from emptying garbage to picking up small pieces of trash like gum wrappers.
Guitton said the Chamber of Commerce makes donations to the various groups in exchange for volunteering at the Taste.
“The Taste uses a lot of non-profit organizations to work the event,” Guitton said. “In exchange for their services the Chamber donates money to their service club or organizations.”
Some groups the Chamber has donated to in the past include, the Edmonds Lions Club, Sno-King Kiwanis, the two Edmonds Rotaries, and Edmonds-Woodway High School. Guitton said the Chamber donated approximately $17,700 to participating groups last year.
Phil Assink, Waste Warriors coordinator, said the Edmonds-Woodway students use their donated money to help fund their senior trip by making ticket prices cheaper or providing financial aid for students in need so they can go on the trip.
Assink first got involved with the Waste Warriors in 2001 and again in 2003, when his children volunteered with the group.
He said he wanted to pass on past successes and failures to future parents and students of the Waste Warriors.
“My hope is that by my staying on as coordinator we can take good stuff from the past years,” Assink said.
He said volunteering with the Waste Warriors helped him branch out to other people in the community.
“You meet some great parents who take time to volunteer and you meet some great kids who take time to volunteer,” Assink said.
He also said volunteering can be fun for the students because they get to work in groups with their friends. Some students have so much fun they even volunteer on days they don’t have to, Assink said.
“I think the kids who come out tend to have a great experience,” Assink said. “They come out with friends and its kind of a shared experience. For the most part the kids seem to enjoy it.”
Assink said each year, the Waste Warriors receive special T-shirts printed only for them. He said the shirts can be very popular and one year, the orange T-shirts offered were especially popular.
“People came to ask if they could pick up trash so they could get a T-shirt,” Assink said.
He said most of all the volunteering gives the community a chance to come together.
“I think the city is probably cleaner when the Taste is over than when it started,” Assink said.
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