CHAIR’S MESSAGE

GACC Chair Dianne Leonard’s May message:

Dianne Leonard

Chair’s Message for May
by 2025 GACC Chair Dianne Leonard

As the days get longer I find myself spending more time outside and enjoying the beauty of our neighborhood. I love seeing the flowers and trees bloom each spring. I love seeing the faces of neighbors I pass on my walks turned upward toward the sun and not hidden away in scarves and hoods as they are for much of the winter. I love hearing the birds early in the morning. I love seeing neighbors out in their yards and gardens cleaning out the leaves that have provided winter protection to small creatures and the delicate plants as they prepare to spring forth.

Our neighborhood includes the lovely Memory Grove. Each May the GACC sponsors the Memory Grove Clean-up. This is a service not only to our community but also to our City and to travelers from all over the world who visit this unique and beautiful place. This year on May 10 we will gather at the gates to Memory Grove and spend a bit of time and energy working to keep this park looking its best. Following the work, LDS Hospital provides lovely box lunches and drinks to all who help with this effort. I hope that those of you who can will come and join us on this service project. It is remarkable how much can be accomplished in a short time with everyone pitching in.

Another thing that I experience at the turning of the sea- sons, and particularly as spring rolls around, is the desire to clean out and declutter. There is scientific evidence that this process of decluttering has positive emotional, psychological and even physical effects. In a 2018 article from Penn Today, Wharton Professor Katherine Milkman calls it the “fresh start effect” of temporal landmarks such as the first day of spring, New Year’s Day, and other meaningful calendar dates. If you find yourself in the mood for a good cleaning, there are several ways to lighten your load. One is the Greater Avenues Buy Nothing Project. This group has been active on the Avenues for a while and adheres to the philosophy of buying less and sharing more. The link to the Facebook page for the group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/ SLCAvenuesBuyNothing/

Donation is another way to share usable items that you may no longer need. There are several different organizations that accept donations. A simple search for “Where do I donate used items in Salt Lake City” gave this answer: In Salt Lake City, you can donate used items to various thrift stores and donation centers like Deseret Industries, Savers, Goodwill, Calvary Thrift Store, and the Salt Lake City Mission. Additionally, organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Catholic Community Services, and The Road Home also accept donations. For building materials, furniture, and appliances, Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a good option. You can find others with a quick search on your computer.

Salt Lake City has a program that can help you get rid of large items that cannot be donated. The Call 2 Haul Program has been around for a long time and is a great help for those of us without large trucks to do our own hauling. Every resident that has Salt Lake City collection services can schedule 2 pick-ups per year and you
can coordinate with neighbors for a large group pick up. Information is available on the city website at https://www.slc.gov/sustainability/waste-management/c2h/

Happy Spring to you and I hope to see you at our May 7 Community Meeting! As always, if you have suggestions or questions regarding things that are happening on the Greater Avenues I hope that you will reach out to me at gaccchair@slc-avenues.org

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD