WEST TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Bryan Horsman expected a modest turnout at the Wabashiki Wildlife area on Sunday, as volunteers gathered to clean the park.
“I was expecting like 20 people at most to show up, and then you get car after car,” he said. “We filled this entire parking lot with cars.”
Horsman, the chair of the “Explore Wabashiki” board, estimated around 70 people ended up spending a portion of their Sunday helping clean the 6.5 miles worth of trails in the area, ahead of the third annual “Explore Wabashiki” event on Saturday.
Horsman said he’s helped clean the park for years, and it’s been satisfying to see the progress continue to build.
“I started doing this, maybe 2010 [when I was a student at Indiana State,] I was a cross country runner,” he said. “We were filling dumpsters full every time. Every year there is less and less trash, which is nice. We make it further each year. It’s just tremendous to see the community come together and just clean all this place up.”
Horsman said watching the dozens of community members help out was satisfying for him.
“It just shows that we’re doing the right thing, and that people do really want to us the great Wabashiki Wetlands that we have out here,” he said.
The third annual “Explore Wabashiki” event will take place on Saturday, Sep. 24th.
