A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
CLEANUP:
continued from Page A1
a staff pastor for Hermis-
ton Assembly of God, said
about 300 people so far have
signed up to participate in the
April 8 community cleanup,
including many who are
not members of the partner
churches but wanted to par-
ticipate anyway.
“It’s pretty neat,” he said.
In total, they expect some-
where between 400 and 500
volunteers, who will perform
free car washes, clean up
downtown Hermiston, pick
up garbage along the railroad
tracks, help run the city’s
annual spring recycling day
and go door to door with of-
fers to help clean up yards.
“It will be a spring clean-
ing for the city,” Haight said.
Hermiston Assembly of
God began the effort last fall
in response to tragedies that
had struck the community.
Their first event, which in-
cluded free car washes and
handing out snacks and water
at Butte Park, drew attention
with red T-shirts proclaim-
ing “I Love My City.” In
December, the group hand-
ed out free candy canes and
performed free gift wrapping
outside Wal-Mart shortly be-
fore Christmas.
Haight said there were a
few people who were suspi-
cious of being offered some-
thing for free and declined
to participate after the vol-
unteers refused to take a do-
nation. But for the most part,
people said they appreciated
the positive message that the
group was portraying.
“We’re not marketing
anything except we love our
city,” Haight said. “We’re
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017
FROM PAGE A1
Slam Dunk the Junk returns
Umatilla will be having its own community clean-
up Saturday, sponsored by the city.
The annual Slam Dunk the Junk returns April 1,
with dumpsters placed throughout the community
for residents to dump yard waste, debris and general
junk for free. The city is looking for volunteers to
help with coordinating, translating and other duties
for Saturday’s cleanup event.
Volunteers can sign up by calling the public works
department at 541-922-3226. If anyone has items to
dispose of that are too large for them to handle by
themselves, they can also call the public works de-
partment to arrange assistance.
If residents miss out on Slam Dunk the Junk, they
can also take advantage of Sanitary Disposal’s free
and discounted dump days over the following week.
just loving people, because
that’s what Jesus did.”
They plan to do some sort
of I Love My City event ev-
ery 90 days. Haight said they
hope to do a free communi-
ty barbecue over the sum-
mer, or possibly rent out the
aquatic center.
The April 8 event coin-
cides with Hermiston’s an-
nual spring recycling event.
Residents can bring every-
thing from old tires to un-
used paint to paper in need of
shredding down to the Uma-
tilla Electric Cooperative
parking lot (at 750 W. Elm
Ave.) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
that day to get them recycled
for free.
“What many of those sta-
tions require is a supervisor
to make sure that the right
stuff goes in the right bin,”
parks and recreation director
Larry Fetter said.
If individuals and families
aren’t interested in volun-
teering there, they can sign
up to pick up trash around
town, or to wash cars for free
at various locations around
town. Haight said organizers
have some back-up projects
in mind if they get too many
volunteers to accommodate
at currently planned loca-
tions.
Chris Hankel, pastor of
worship ministries for New
Hope, said church members
were excited to join the oth-
er churches for the event.
The first Sunday it was an-
nounced, 80 families signed
up to participate.
Hankel said the church
wants to be a positive part
of the community beyond
just their own congregation.
It also wants to facilitate ser-
vice opportunities for fam-
ilies who attend New Hope.
“Part of church is learning
to serve people for no oth-
er reason than just to serve,
without any expectation of
reciprocation,” he said.
Anyone interested in vol-
unteering on April 8, whether
a member of a church or not,
can sign up online at www.
ilovehermiston.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Gabriel Villasenor paints the final of four murals Saturday on the side of Carniceria Julissa
on Hermiston Avenue.
COLOR:
continued from Page A1
The store will provide
some services to a part of
town that doesn’t current-
ly have a grocery store.
Many parts of Hermiston
are considered “food des-
erts” — which is a USDA
definition based on the
ratio of grocery stores to
residents.
While the Valles and
Orozco put up shelves,
cleaned and prepared the
inside of the store, Gabri-
el Villasenor was busy on
the outside of the building,
painting a colorful mu-
ral. The murals span four
walls, and depict farm
animals, the cast of Span-
ish cartoon “El Chavo
Animado,” pigs dressed
in mariachi outfits, and a
watermelon — with the
word “Hermiston” painted
above it.
“With the weather, it
takes me about a month,”
Villasenor said, “because I
have to wait when it rains
sometimes.”
On a Monday after-
noon, Villasenor had about
half an hour’s work left on
the painting. He stood on
a ladder in the sun with a
small brush and carefully
painted shadows on the
letters of the word “Herm-
iston.” Below, his wife
used a roller with bright
green paint to touch up
the grass behind the water-
melon painting.
Villasenor owns Three
Brothers Signs, and has
painted murals for several
businesses in the Tri-Cit-
ies and Yakima.
The Valles have been in
Tri-Cities for about 7 years,
having previously lived in
Yakima and other towns
around Washington. They
moved to the United States
from Mexico in 1998.
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