Q&A with Martyna Griffin, Executive Director of Keep Carroll Beautiful
Has the pandemic inspired you to get more involved with improving your community? We spoke with Martyna about small group cleanups, the wonder of gardening, and how one small act can make a world of difference.
What inspired you to get involved with Keep Carroll Beautiful (KCB)?
Growing up, I remember doing projects around the house, and a lot of them had to do with refurbishing old furniture or I volunteered for KCB a few years back, in 2016, for their litter index, and then worked on organizing the Hidden Garden Tour. Those were my first interactions with the organization. After that, I worked for a local trail group, the Friends of Carrollton Greenbelt, and one of my tasks was to start a formal Adopt-A-Trail program in cooperation with Keep Carroll Beautiful. When the ED position became available, I applied and the transition went pretty smoothly. I have worked in sustainability for a while, and I feel like this is something everybody should be interested in doing, right? Everyone wants to live in a clean and pretty neighborhood, so it's a no-brainer for me.
What have been some of your favorite projects, or moments, so far?
I have a tender spot for the Adopt-A-Trail program, which has just grown and grown since I first started it. It asks only a little bit of involvement from the community, but results in awesome things. More people have joined in; actually, because they go to the trail and don’t find any trash, so then they want a different area to clean. It’s been fun to see, and their involvement draws in others to the cause. People see them cleaning up, realize how nice it is to have a healthy environment, and learn to not litter anymore.
This year, a heartwarming moment was planting an addition to a community garden at Whitesburg Public Library. I loved going out and seeing people enjoy the nice, warm weather and planting vegetables like turnips. We had a lot of fun outdoors that day, despite everything else going on.
The Great Greenbelt Cleanup
How have your programs changed this year because of the pandemic? Has it inspired any new ways of operating that you actually hope to continue?
We had to go into lockdown like everyone else, just around KCB’s 15th birthday. Unfortunately, instead of celebrating Earth Day in person, and having cake and doing other fun stuff together, we had to find another way to commemorate the occasion in a safe way. We came up with the idea to create two weeks of daily social posts (15 days, really, for our 15th birthday), with useful information from KCB. Some board members did videos or photos of their favorite projects, and we shared tips on how to save energy or create green garden decorations. We had to adjust and do it all in a very short period of time, but ended up really liking the format of it, and the public seemed to enjoy it. We plan to do a similar project next year.
We’ve also had to reorganize the logistics for our cleanups. Our adopt-a-road program goes throughout the year, but we typically kick spring events off with the Great Greenbelt Cleanup (our version of The Great American Cleanup). We usually bring everyone together that day for coffee and biscuits, then send them off to their various locations, but because of the pandemic, we skipped that part and had people check supplies out from the office and do staggered pickups. If, in the future, we go back to having a big meeting and seeing everyone in person, that will be great, but we’re definitely keeping the other components as a model for other events. The newly revised structure ended up working way better for us!
What does your affiliate look forward to in the future? What further impact do you hope to see in Carroll County?
We plan to continue our cleanup programs, and especially want to reach that 5-10% of people who are interested in participating and aware of litter issues, but haven’t joined us yet. In 2021, we also hope to offer more educational programming. I’d like to have more outreach with schools, and take on some additional beautification projects. We also plan to continue our two main recycling events.
Any advice for people looking to make their communities cleaner, greener, or more beautiful?
I would say to just do something small. Up until a couple of months ago, I had never done a roadside cleanup, but I became inspired while visiting a friend one day and hearing her complain about people throwing trash on a pretty stretch of road along her property. I already had cleanup supplies in my car, so I took my kids with me, and we filled a big bag with trash after walking about a quarter of a mile along the road each way. Doing that one little act made me feel so much better, and if you don’t have your own supplies, you can always reach out to your local affiliate.