Extra Credit, Dean "the Marine", Leave it Better

In the first few weeks of school, Jackson has learned some hard lessons. In his previous school which was a charter school the only grades you received was for work you did in school. There was no grades for bribing kids to bring papers back to school, no homework grades and no participation grades. Whereas in his public high school that is exactly what you get. Just for doing the homework you get a 100% homework grade. If you don't do it you get a zero. The students are given tons and I mean tons of paperwork to complete for the next day. It is actually parent homework. If it is not turned in by the next day, the student gets a zero for a homework grade.

Because of this adjustment Jackson has a lower than expected grade in his environmental science class. I told him he needed to bring it up immediately and he needed to figure out how. His science teacher already had extra credit posted. One of the choices was a stream clean up. We emailed the head of the clean up no response. We emailed him a second time no response. Jackson emailed his teacher to find out if he had to preregister to participate. Her answer was no so we decided to just show up.

Low and behold we arrive at a local park in Matthews, NC about 15 mins from our home and we meet Dean "the Marine". Dean is a 78 year old Marine veteran who served in Vietnam and a few other places. Clearly he is retired but filling his days covering a few acres of Mecklenburg County in Charlotte NC keeping the streams clean. Buried in a very busy retail area with a Costco, Dicks, Old Navy just to name a few is a beautiful patch of heaven. I have lived in this area since 1995 and seen signs for it but really had no idea what it was.

As we walked, talked, picked up trash and cleared the streams I learned more in 2.5 hours than I have in an entire day of everyday life. Did you know just Mecklenburg County NC there are over 3000 miles of streams. You read that right 3000 miles!! There are 3 yes just 3 employees who manage these 3000 miles. Yes 1000 miles per employee!! So the county relies on volunteers like Dean to help keep the streams clean.

Jack and I walked along the entire back wall below a huge retail shopping center and picked up trash so it would not end up in the stream below. We filled, just Jack and I in 2.5 hours more than two contractor bags fill of trash. We collected beer bottles, wine bottles, energy drink cans, soda cans, the paper cups that Costco uses for samples and tons of plastic groceries bags just to name a few items. As we spoke with Dean he also told us another bit of startling news. In all the years he has been doing stream clean only SIX volunteers ever came to help and that included Jack and I. I was speechless. This is why he did not respond to Jack's emails he didn't think we would show up.

For a little while Jack and climbed up and down hills, along a black topped path and circled back around and met back up with Dean at a beautiful stream. We climbed down in the steam and walked down it for a while pulling limbs out of the water, removing the big rocks and pulling trash out of the water. Dean walks this area making sure the water flow is not blocked to prevent flooding.

For local peeps this is the bridge you drive over to get from Costco to the Old Navy,
 Dicks, World Market side.

At the top of the hill where that rock wall is this other side
of the rock wall is the Costco parking lot in Matthews, NC.

A lonely fall leaf floating down the stream. Too many of
these in the steams can cause flooding.

A while back a huge tree fell over the stream. Dean took his chain saw and cut it up in smaller pieces but they are still too much for him to get out. He has turned the logs so the flow with the water and not against it until he can cut the logs up further and pull them up with a winch. I wish I was better prepared and Phil was with me. We could have made quick work of that log and any other things Dean has been trying to methodically do alone with out hurting himself.

The stream we stomped through pulling up sticks
and debris that can block the water flow. Also where
the logs are that still need to be removed.

As we walked back to where we met at the opening of the stream we sat and talked. I pulled my boots off and dumped the water out of them. We talked about some of the dangers of him being out here by himself. He told me how the VA supplied him with an SOS medallion for him to where around his neck. If he falls it will locate him and send emergency help. It also has a button to press if he is able. Something his family was grateful he wears.

Those of you that know us well we are a very busy family. I have a calendar in my phone and everyone is color coded. If you are not on the calendar we will not make it to your event. Knowing this was something that Jack needed to do for school it made the calendar. However, had it not been for that I would have continued on with my life and had no idea this goes on. Don't get me wrong I have seen stream clean up signs but I never stepped up to help. I can promise you this will not be the only time we do this.

Earlier this year when we went to Camp LUCK Family Camp, the theme was "Leave it Better". This is a perfect example of how were can do our part to leave things better. Dean "the Marine" will not be around forever and then what? Who will step up and take his place? Will they care as much as he does? Why do you have to throw your trash around? How long does it take to walk to the trash can?

Sometime in the next couple of weeks we will be doing this again. I hope to get my whole family doing this for a few hours on a Saturday. Please contact me if you are interested in doing your part. I would love for you to meet Dean "the Marine".