By Angela Mashek

Starting Saturday morning off right by praising the Lord and serving the community, a conglomeration of Burien community group participants showed up for the Burien Clean Sweep. Mars Hill Church was represented by its community group members and by its donation to the cause: providing flashy orange vests to all!

The Clean Sweep began at 8am, with pastries and coffee at the Fire Station, and 2 teams were created under the Mars Hill name. Both teams broke off into their respective areas, and each team spent the next 3+ hours picking up garbage.

Teams never had any trouble finding garbage, and much of the time was spent in mini-landfills, where the team members exclaimed that they had “hit the jackpot!” During the retrieval of trash, team members talked about their walk with the Lord and how they had discovered Mars Hill. It was a great opportunity not just to do the Lord’s work through community, but to also strengthen the relationships between group members.

Dave Harris had a genuine experience connecting with another member of the community, and he realized that the Lord had placed him with his new friend because that was where he was needed most.

Team members cracked jokes during the sweep, because some of the things that people found were absolutely disgusting. It felt so good to make a difference in an area that had been previously covered with trash. Multiple garbage bags were gathered on the sidewalks and parking lots for other volunteers to come and pick up. They estimated the volunteers picked up around 9 tons of trash in 3 hours! The community effort was remarkable.

After the teams had covered their sections of town, the first team came back to relax and to catch a whiff of the hot dogs cooking on the grill.

The organizers had a wash station set up and while pumping the water through to wash my hands, Aaron Easter asked “How does this thing work?” I explained that “You have to push the pump at the bottom with your foot.” Then I said, “No, I was just over here dancing, dancing and praising the Lord.” He said, “Yeah, that’s right.”

While waiting for the other team to arrive, we noticed a flood of Burien folks came and claimed their spot in line because the hot dogs had drawn quite a crowd…they smelled so wonderful.

After everyone appeared to be full and happy, the ladies coordinating the Clean Sweep began calling out raffle ticket numbers for prizes. Dave Harris happened to be one of the numbers called, and he was blessed with a gift certificate to one of the local stores.

The coordinators of the Clean Sweep thanked Mars Hill for their support and we all posed for a group picture. We were all blessed by God’s good grace for the opportunity to serve in our community! Praise be to the Almighty!