Last Friday, I volunteered for the James River Parks System with Ralph White, painting over graffiti and picking up trash by the river. We travelled to across the railroad with painting supplies and trash collecting supplies to enhance the natural beauty of the river by covering up traces of man. I started in the painting group. Armed with a bucket of brown paint and a roller, we set to work covering over a large white spraypainted word on the bridge. Ralph especially did not like this graffiti because it was extremely visible to boaters and people on the small beach by the Pipeline Walk. He walked us a little further along the bridge to show us what he considers real art. He pointed us towards the art on one of the columns under the bridge. Rather than a vulgar word crudely sprayed on a wall, this was more of a masterpiece with the word “Virginia” stylistically painted across an artistic design. I could see how, although it was still vandalism, that painting was not offensive to the people of Richmond, but had become a part of peoples’ experiences on the river. After the thoughtless graffiti was covered with our brown paint and the bridge looked much more clean, our group joined the other group on the island.
The other group was busily taking bags of trash out of what looked like the camp of a homeless person. Although I wasn’t an active participant of going through the trash and glass bottles, I was somewhat amazed at the whole scene. Ralph had told us that homeless people live on that island because it’s out of the way and near the water. He described the dichotomy between these people who have close to nothing and the people who stay in the huge luxury hotels just at the end of the train tracks. Both groups of people, although in incredibly different socioeconomic classes, were attracted to the rushing water of the James. However it is difficult for the homeless people to enjoy the water when their homes are filled with trash. Our group managed to take most of the large trash heap behind the makeshift home off the island to the trash cans on the other side of the bridge. The whole atmosphere looked much cleaner and more natural than it had when we had arrived. Overall, this volunteer experience showed me the importance of volunteer work and I was filled with a sense of accomplishment when I saw the huge positive change that my actions brought about.