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NEARLY THREE-DOZEN people gave up a part of their weekend this past Saturday to take part in a community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County, organized by the Port of Stockton along with partner organizations, tenants and members of the community.
The initiative was part of Clean California Community Days — Spring Into Action, a state-wide 11-day event that concluded Monday. It was sponsored by the Governor’s Office and Caltrans.
About 35 volunteers from the community, Port of Stockton, Caltrans and several organizations gathered outside the Port Administration building on Washington Street to collect their cleanup kits before joining a parade of cars on Highway 4 headed to the Roberts Island area.
Samouth Mao, a volunteer from California Conservation Corps, takes out a mattress from a pile of trash during the community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County on Saturday. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local) 
Was it an education gone to waste? A monkey toy wearing a 2021 graduation cap turned up among the collection of trash items recovered during a community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County on March 25, 2023. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local) 
Volunteers find Goosebumps books in the trash during the community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County on March 25, 2023. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local) 
Haleigh Rodriguez wanders deep into the brush to collect trash during the community cleanup event at Roberts Island in the Delta on Saturday. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local) 
Stacy Manson, a Port of Stockton employee, picks up trash during the community cleanup event at Roberts Island on March 25, 2023. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local) 
Tyler Mackey and Samouth Mao, volunteers from California Conservation Corps, help each other slide down a slope during the community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County on March 25, 2023. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)
Volunteers as young as eight wasted no time braving the cold winds and the steep slopes along Burns Cutoff, as they cleaned out several tons of trash including broken TV sets and other household electronics and appliances off the road.
Eight-year-old Kai Carrillo came out from Elk Grove with his father for the clean-up.
“I’m volunteering here today because I want to help our community with all the trash,” Carrillo said. “Most of the trash goes into the ocean, and we don’t want that in the ocean.”
Jeff Wingfield, deputy director of Regulatory and Public Affairs at Port of Stockton, was also on hand to help the clean-up.
“This is a pretty isolated area, and you will see a lot of people come in and dump more and more trash,” he said. “But if there’s no trash here, littering will gradually reduce.”
Wingfield said the Port plans to host at least four such events a year.
Among the volunteers were members from several organizations such as the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, the Sierra Club and California Conservation Corps, as well as District 5 Council Member Brando Villapudua.
“This is part of my district,” Villapudua said. “Anyone caring about the water should be out here, getting your hands dirty and giving back to the community.”
Edith Villapudua is running for State Senate and was also at the event, along with Greg Zavala, who said he intends to run for City Council.
Harika Maddala is a photojournalist based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. They are a Report for America corps member and a CatchLight Local Fellow.
