New Mexico Sierra Club Hosts Outdoor Service Projects to Honor National Day of Service on 9/11

Volunteers to Help Create Garden & Maintain Albuquerque’s green spaces.

Albuquerque, NM – Local residents and Sierra Club members pulled on their work boots and gloves to help create a sitting area and garden at a South Valley School, clean up trash at city parks, and help prepare a tree nursery for winter along the bosque. Today’s service projects were mostly handled by young people such as students at Nuestros Valores Charter School and UNM students that helped clean up Tiguex Park near Old Town.

Across the country, thousands of Americans volunteered today as part of the National Day of Service and Remembrance. Sierra Club members proudly took part in the event through Sierra Club’s Serve Outdoors initiative, highlighting through their service the importance of the great outdoors to all Americans.

“Today, we honor those who have served the country by taking part in the National Day of Service,” said Shrayas Jatkar, a community organizer with the Sierra Club in Albuquerque. “Protecting our wild places is our patriotic duty, and we do so with great pride.”

Along with three service projects in Albuquerque, another two events were held – one each in Silver City and Taos. In Albuquerque, volunteer work sites were scattered across the city and involved potting plants and laying plastic sheeting, sorting and watering tree saplings, as well as pulling weeds and picking up trash. Along with the local Sierra Club, a number of other entities assisted in organizing this year’s Serve Outdoors initiative in Albuquerque including the Nuestros Valores Charter School, Tree New Mexico, and City of Albuquerque-Parks & Recreation Department.

“The great outdoors are part of America’s heritage, so it is vitally important that we work to protect them,” commented Michael Casaus, Senior Field Organizing Manager for the Sierra Club. “When service members return from the battlefield, or when firefighters have time off from work, they should be able to go into the woods to fish or to hike with their families just like generations of Americans have done before them.”

“Wild places are one of the things that make New Mexico and the United States so special,” remarked Sierra Club intern Audrey Altwies, a sophomore at UNM. “Volunteering along the bosque or in one of Albuquerque’s great city parks reminds us that we need to protect America's wild legacy for our children and grandchildren. Millions of Americans turn to the outdoors as a source of solace and, especially in tough economic times, the outdoors provide a place for families to vacation even on a tight budget.”

Many of today’s participants were young adults who have been drawn to serve their country, community, and neighborhoods, having grown up in the aftermath of 9/11 2001.

“America’s youth and young adults have embraced service as a way to build a foundation for the future,” said Kristina Ortez, Sierra Club Southwest Youth Outreach Representative. “Their commitment to their communities, our nation’s heroes, and the environment energizes the Sierra Club and strengthens our country.”

To find out more about Sierra Club Youth Programs in New Mexico, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/youth/newmexico.

Photo is from today’s event at the Nuestros Valores Charter School in the South Valley.