“My heart has always been kind of connected to nature. I grew up in Van Horn out in far West Texas. You could walk outdoors, and there would be mountains and wildlife everywhere. I used to be out in the woods all the time, fishing, hunting and things like that. And I always kept it clean, or at least better than it was when I showed up.

“I feel the same here. Jenkins Park is like my home away from home. This is such a beautiful place. When I would come out here to walk and ride my bike, I would see all this trash on the ground. I guess it’s just careless people throwing it everywhere.

“So I told myself, if I’m going to come here and enjoy the park, I may as well do my part to pick it up a little bit; try to show a little respect. I work a four-on, four-off schedule at an oil terminal in Channelview. On my days off, you’ll probably find me here picking this stuff up. Maybe I watched too much Captain Planet as a kid. But you’ve got to do something, right?”

— Tim Kuykendall

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“I honestly didn’t realize it was Earth Day until our 5-year-old told us. I asked my husband to look it up to make sure, and she was right. She kept pushing us because she really wanted to do something to make a difference. So we bought gloves and garbage bags, dropped off our oldest at church school, and came here to the park.”

How did you learn about Earth Day?
“I’m in kindergarten at De Zavala Elementary, and my teacher told me that Earth Day is on April 22. She said that we’ve got to clean up the Earth so the animals and the plants can survive.”

“She helped us pick up some trash, then got a little tired and wanted to play. We’re pretty proud of her.”

— Amy and Alejandro Velez, with daughter Kylee

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