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Robin McPeek  believes in giving back to her community.

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 She appreciates Colorado Springs and particularly enjoys walking her dog in Bonforte Park and along the Rock Island Trail.

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So when the Colorado Springs Parks Department announced in February it was pulling 396 garbage cans from 128 neighborhood parks as a cost-cutting measure, McPeek worried what would happen.

The Parks Department took them away to save $40,000 in liners, roll-off service costs, landfill fees and worker time.

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She feared the park and trail would become trashy places.

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That’s why McPeek volunteered when Springs resident Steve Immel created Proud of Our Parks to encourage people to adopt their neighborhood parks and collect the trash.

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McPeek thought it would be no big deal to picked up the trash bags  from Bonforte Park once a week.

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Six months later, she has had a change of heart.

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She still loves her park and trail.

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 But she issick of hauling garbage and feels unappreciated.

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McPeek is so burned out she says she will not continue collecting the garbage next summer.

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If the city doesn’t change its policy and start picking up the trash, Bonforte will again be a garbage orphan.

Not all the Proud of Our Parks volunteers who adopted parks are burned out. Of the 160 or so trash cans being patrolled by volunteers, about one-third are sponsored by businesses and the rest are mostly neighborhood groups, Immel said.

Real estate agents have their smiling faces on many cans. Restaurants are frequent adoptees, too.

A typical neighborhood group is one organized by Sue Iverson to patrol Broadmoor Glen Park in the 211-home Reserve at Broadmoor Glen neighborhood.

Iverson said she rotates with three other families. They emtpy the garbage twice a week. They learned to use Bungee cords to secure the bags and everything has gone smoothly.

Iverson said one family used the trash can project as a chance to teach their son about giving back to his community. For her, it’s a chance for community service and to protect the property values in the neighborhood where she has lived 11 years.

Kurt Schroeder of the Parks Department applauded all the volunteers who have adopted parks.

He said the program worked well all summer. He said a few glitches involved garbage cans left unattended during volunteers’ vacations. But he said the program is a huge success.

Schroeder said it’s unknown if the City Council will approve money for trash removal in the 2011 budget.

Here’s an earlier column I wrote about Proud of Our Parks and my previous blog on the subject.

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