Although the project is new, the mission is setting out to combat a longstanding issue Sliver had noticed for years. He could see how trash was beginning to hurt Dayton—a city he holds very close—yet noticed few people doing anything about it. After spending sometime in the Marine Corps, and through the teamwork between Zack and his brother Matthew Sliver, Principal of Catapult Creative, Clean Up Dayton emerges to address the problems of waste.
One of its very first projects is happening September 12, where Daytonians can join Sliver and other residents of the community to help restore Dayton's image.
Inspired by the story and the mission of Clean Up Dayton, Dayton.com spoke with its creator Zack to learn more about the project.
Dayton.com: What's been the most rewarding thing so far?
ZS: If I can backtrack a couple of years ago—I recently just got out of the Marine Corps about a year and half ago. Seeing Dayton Inspires flourish into this community entity to where people are now happy to be Daytonians and they are waiting for something, waiting to get involved, they want to help the city, just like I want to help the city. I think watching people get excited about this project has been the most rewarding things for me, because I cleaned a lot at Wayne and Wyoming about 5 months ago, and people were stopping me and asking, "Why are you doing this? Who told you to do this?" I was like, "nobody—this lot is trashed."
People thanked me and then I thought that I want everybody to feel just as rewarded and fulfilled just as I did on that day. It’s a small thing, but it has such a community impact that I think people can get behind. One person picking up one piece of trash is better than no person picking up anything. I am really excited to see what comes in the future for this.
Dayton.com: What can people expect at the event?
ZS: The event is from 1 to 7:30 p.m. We are all going to be meeting up at Third and Keowee and we are going to have a huge Dayton Inspires banner. We are going to be handing out some water to all of the volunteers. We are also going to be giving out trash bags and trash pickers and we are going to all -- together -- clean under the bridge. That's one of the biggest projects we have right now.
Then after we are done with that, I have five different people who are going to span out to the five different boroughs and they are going to collectively clean the different parts of the city and then we are all going to meet up for an after party. The location will be released soon. We are going to fellowship and talk, and get to know each other a little more and talk about the future.
Dayton.com: What is Clean Up Dayton all about?
ZS: Clean Up Dayton is the second part of Dayton Inspires. I'm picking the project up and we are getting started with the second part of the project called "Community Works," which is all about helping out the community a little bit more. We are taking that Dayton Inspires name farther. It started when I was out giving food to the homeless and I was under a First and Keowee street overpass for a train, and I just saw how trashed it was and anyone who lives in Dayton can attests to walking by trash all the time. We are just trying to inspire people to change that a little bit.
Right now we have 95 volunteers and we are just going to go to five different boroughs of Dayton and pick up all the trash. I am in contact [with] the city and the County’s Brian Fowls, who will be providing the trash bags, gloves and litter grabbers. Tom Ritchie from the City’s Waste Management -- he, along with his team, are going to help pick up some of the trash. Then we are going to have a huge after party after in order to get our community a little closer. We want to show Dayton that we care about the place that we live. It’s not one person doing this, it’s not just me. I want to show everybody that two heads are better than one. I want to inspire people to love the city that we live in.
Dayton.com: Why must Daytonians get involved?
ZS: Daytonians should get involved because this is our city, and we need to take it back. We walk by—on Third Street—there is so much broken glass there, and behind and in our allies. It's trashed. I want people to love this city and I want them to feel comfortable living here and raising a family here. It kind of burns my heart to see certain areas just riddled with trash. It's not the city's fault, it's not just one person's fault, its everybody's fault. We walk by it every day. Through this effort I want to show the city and all its people what we can do together.
Dayton.com: How long has Clean Up Dayton been around?
ZS: It just started. I started the program about a month ago. I was bouncing off my brother's team at Catapult Creative, just seeing how we can make it a reality. They gave me a few tips and great ideas on how to make it a reality that could be a very manageable project. This is the first of many projects that we are going to have. We are going to try to have one every quarter. In the future we are going to try to start helping revitalize areas where people need help—elderly people who need their grass cut, people who need help taking down a fence, just trying to be there for the community.
Dayton.com: What are the goals for Clean Up Dayton?
ZS: The short term goals are that we are going to be cleaning five different boroughs of Huffman Avenue, Third Street along the river, Dunbar and a surprise one that we are going to be unveiling next week.
Want to help?
WHAT: Dayton Inspires: "Clean Up Dayton"
WHEN: 1-7:30 p.m. September 12, 2015
WHERE: Meet at Third and Keowee Street at 1 p.m.
COST: Free
MORE INFO: Website | Facebook | Zack@launchcatapult.com, 540-419-9885
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