Among the community members helping to weed the prominent corner of S.E. 43rd Avenue at Woodstock Boulevard were, from left: Sherry Hanrahan, Kristen Kim, Jozette Hunzeker, David Groff, and Patrick Baures. Not shown: 43rd Avenue resident Chris Regelein. (Photo by Elizabeth Ussher Groff)

On the beautiful spring morning, Woodstock residents came out not only to pick up litter and trash for their neighborhood association’s monthly “Walk ’n Clean”, but also to pull weeds at a local business.

That business was Nudi’s Restaurant, on the corner of S.E. 43rd and Woodstock Boulevard.  During the pandemic, Nudi’s suffered a loss of thousands of dollars due to vandalism from drug activity, and from the nearby tent inhabitants who lined the curb by the restaurant. At that time, some of the neighbors living on 43rd Avenue cleared that parking strip after the tents disappeared, and installed boulders.

On the spring morning in question, some of those same neighbors joined the regular monthly Walk ’n Clean volunteers to pull the weeds that were smothering the tulips that Nudi’s had previously planted. Some consider that corner to be a “second gateway” to the Woodstock neighborhood.

Patrick Baures, a 43rd Avenue resident who had helped clean up Nudi’s parking strip two years ago, returned this year to join the others in pulling weeds. “I was happy to help and make a small difference. I am proud of our community and neighbors, and the pride they all take in our neighborhood of Woodstock.”

A few Walk ’n Clean volunteers – like Jozette Hunzeker, a Woodstock resident who likes to give back to her community – joined in that weeding effort. She remarked, “We met at Nudi’s at 9:30 a.m., at the garden in front, with shovels and buckets. There were at least six of us. Each one took a section of the garden and pulled out dandelions and quack grass. The entire parking area ‘lit up’, as the weeds were disappearing, revealing tulips in bloom.”

Sherry Hanrahan who lives on the border of the Brentwood-Darlington and Mt. Scott Arleta neighborhoods is a new Walk ’n Clean volunteer; she remarked that she shops in Woodstock, and sees such cleanup efforts as a positive way to build community.

As for the whole Walk ’n Clean litter pickup on that morning, twelve bags were collected – in spite of the fact that only three days earlier, twenty-five SOLVE Oregon volunteers had come to the Woodstock neighborhood to pick up litter as part of their annual Spring Cleanup.

On that Wednesday, the SOLVE group’s “headquarters” for the two-hour cleanup was in front of the Double Mountain Woodstock Taproom at 4336 S.E. Woodstock Boulevard. SOLVE Events Coordinator Emily Berend was there, and told THE BEE that the annual SOLVE Spring Cleanup, themed to “Earth Day”, began in 1990, and continues each year all across Oregon. With over 100 statewide cleanups, thousands of volunteers pull ivy, do restoration work, and pick up litter.

Among the SOLVE volunteers on that day, with litter grabbers and bags along Woodstock Boulevard, were Daniel Brockman, an Eastmoreland resident, and Jake Messimer, who lives in Westmoreland. They both work at “The Travel Corporation”, and remarked that they really enjoy taking time off each year to spend a couple of hours helping clean up neighborhoods in the statewide Earth Day Cleanups.

As for those monthly Woodstock Neighborhood Association Walk ’n Clean volunteers, they ask that all neighbors be more careful not to litter, and to please pick up wrappers and other paper or plastic materials and drop them into a garbage or recycling receptacle

If you’d like to learn more about Woodstock neighborhood events, as well as the monthly Walk ’n Clean, go online – http://www.woodstockpdx.org – and then click on “newsletter”.