As a way to help the environment, Club Green will take part in the DuPage County River Sweep on May 21.

The DuPage County River Sweep is an event organized by the Conservation Foundation in 1991.

It started off after a man found garbage by the DuPage River.

“He contacted his local government to find out who cleans the river. At the time, there wasn’t any organized clean-up effort,” Conservation Foundation staff member Jan Roehill said.

So the man asked the government if they could clean up the river.

“They told him that if he got it to the curb, they would haul it away, so he and his three children started removing trash and pulling it out to be collected. He then started getting his neighbors involved and it has grown from there,” Roehill said.

Although the event is organized by the Conservation Foundation, many other groups help out.

“The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County rangers pick up the trash in the preserves after the River Sweep. Waste Management donates Dumpsters in specified locations to pick up the trash. American Rivers donates trash bags for the clean-up and Nestle, Ice Mountain, donates water for the participants,” Roehill said.

Club Green is one of the many school clubs that take part in the river cleanup.

“Each year we get about 600-700 volunteers. We do get a lot of high school and elementary school groups participating as well as a lot of Boy and Girl Scouts. This year the West Chicago Park District is organizing volunteers to help clean up the streams and rivers in their parks,” Roehill said.

Club Green hopes their participation will help reduce the river pollution.

“We wanted to take part in helping out the community,” adviser Suzanne Burchacki said.

The event is open to everyone.

“Anybody can help out. If any students want NHS hours, they should go. Also, if you want free T-Shirts and food, go,” adviser Brianne Ferreiro said.