On June 25 and 26, 1,515 volunteers braved the heat to remove more than seven tons of trash from business fronts, parks and neighborhoods in 26 different locations around the City of Portland.
"I deeply appreciate the efforts of the many Portlanders who pitched in to help with SOLVE's recent two-day 'Pick It Up, Portland!' event. Thank you to SOLVE for organizing the record-breaking cleanup effort," Mayor Wheeler said. "The event happened during an important time for our city. We are expecting many businesses, venues, and other attractions to reopen soon. Cleanup events like this help get us there.”
The event blanketed both the east and west sides of Portland, where volunteers picked up everything from large items like couches, pieces of furniture, and car tires, to small pieces of litter like bottle caps, cigarette butts, and plastic bottles.
"Even with the extreme heat, we had record-breaking numbers of events, volunteers, and pounds of trash removed," SOLVE Oregon CEO Kris Carico said. "This just goes to show that we live in the best city and are Here for Portland. I couldn’t be more proud to be part of this community.”
"Leaders Become Legends joined Pick It Up, Portland! because we want to take these clean up efforts to east Multnomah County and other communities and get them involved as well," Derric Thompson and Bretto Jackson of Leaders Become Legends said. "This is an important time in our communities to come together and help make our city beautiful."
In 2021 alone, nearly 7,000 volunteers have removed more than 175,000 pounds of litter and debris from Portland’s business fronts, green spaces, and neighborhoods. SOLVE Oregon's next downtown Portland Cleanup is Wednesday, July 21. Additional events are ongoing, starting with a cleanup in Old Town Wednesday, June 30. The list of events and sign up information can be found here.