Pliking celebrates its SIXTH birthday this September! To kick off the celebration, Cherie, the current board president, and I, the first board president, met up in Redmond, Washington. We headed out with grabbers, buckets and gloves to gather sweet, juicy blackberries and clean the Puget Sound Energy trail. The thorns fought back and a broken bottle rolled down into a drainage pipe, but as in days past, we persevered and emerged victorious – 2 buckets full of trash and berry-stained faces (a few berries actually made it into our basket).

Cherie and I have been pliking together almost since Pliking’s first event was held on September 29, 2018 at High Adventure Park in Ogden, Utah. Cherie joined The Pliking Club in January 2019, and since then has participated in 148 pliking events.

Together Cherie and I have pliked in the rain, in the snow, and in the fierce summer sun. We have picked up fast food containers and drug paraphernalia and old clothing and occasionally cash. We have been frustrated with lazy picnickers and pleased when unsheltered persons left their trash hanging in plastic bags for easy pickup.

It’s been a great journey, especially thanks to the support of our hardworking board of directors, which currently includes Lyndsey, Dave and Kitty. Nestor and Benny also provided great assistance before retiring from the board. And thanks to the thousands of volunteers who have worked with us for the past 6 years, together donating more than 6,000 hours.

Marie Hahn, Outreach Coordinator