GLAM GALS are a group of tweens and early teens intent on taking action to make things better around here. Their name, which has nothing to do with clothes or makeup, stands for Girls Living a More Giving and Adventurous Life Style. And these girls are indeed giving and adventurous, bravely picking up the frequently repulsive trash some of the rest of us are dumping carelessly all over the Island. So far this summer they have walked over 30 miles and picked up 2,700 gallons of trash.
Starting the group was the idea of father-daughter team Devon and Madrona Raney. Devon, facing a summer of a 10-year-old child home from school who needed something to keep her busy, wanted to “come up with something cooler than summer camp.” The Raneys, who have lived on Bainbridge for four years, walk everywhere because Devon has a vision impairment that prevents him from driving. He said his particular vision picks up contrast really well, and he started noticing white-colored trash everywhere.
Devon remembered being embarrassed as a child by his mother who would gather armloads of trash every time they visited the beach. But as an adult, he felt differently and was proud of what she had done.
Devon thought to himself, “I shouldn’t be embarrassed by her. I should be embarrassed by all the trash.”
He and Madrona started talking about the litter and what to do about it. Madrona wanted to invite her friends to participate in gathering it, and that’s when GLAM GALS was hatched. The Raneys approached Kellie Stickney, Communications Specialist for the City of Bainbridge, and Sonny Belieu, Operations and Maintenance Supervisor, who agreed to provide GLAM GALS with bags, gloves, and safety vests and take the collected garbage from them.
This summer, the nine GLAM GALS and assorted parents spent four hours on one day each of eight weeks gathering trash. On every outing, each kids tries to fill a 42-gallon bag. Devon said they gather about 35 gallons of garbage per bag and drop it off at the City, although Belieu said his staff will also drive to pick up trash from specific locations.
The girls are prohibited from picking up anything along 305, any glass, anything with blood on it, or any needles. So far they have found just one needle. They alerted the City to its location and left it alone.
The GLAM GALS are (as of August 31) Sarah Dunham (5th grade), Matty Dunham (8th grade), Cecelia Harris (5th grade), Madelyn Harris (8th grade), Hazel Kleiner (5th grade), Madrona Raney (5th grade), Piper Morgan (5th grade), Andrea Todd (5th grade), and Aila VanDuine (5th grade). They have a lot to say on the matter of trash. Sarah described their task as “really fun because you get to pick up trash with your friends.” Madelyn described it as “big scavenger hunt.”
But there is a dark side to the work as well. Piper said they have found “toilet paper with poop on it.” Hazel mentioned “a dirty pillow.” The girls talked about lots of beer bottles, beer cans, and Red Bull, lots of fireworks, gum wrappers, a binky, one Croc by a restaurant, dirty socks, dirty clothing, a “very stinky” pair of shoes, a lot of dog poop, bottles of medicine, glass, napkins, McDonald’s trash, and cigarettes. Some of the trash is “right in the middle of the sidewalk,” some of it is right next to garbage cans (such as at the High School stadium), and some (like the beer bottles) is somewhat hidden. The stadium and the Safeway parking lot are especially littered.
Devon said they “picked up an obscene amount of beer and wine bottles in the bushes behind Safeway. The GALS were commenting on how many beer cans we were finding. It was discouraging.” A few minutes later one girl picked a receipt off the ground and read it to herself and then out loud, saying, “Can you believe it? This person bought 16 cases of beer. That is way too much.”
Matty said, “You’d be surprised by how much trash there is.” Her sister Sarah was more direct, repeatedly imploring, “Please make an effort, people. We have trash cans.”
Madelyn said, “We’re the next generation. It’s better than just sitting. We’re doing something.”
T-shirt tag
Madelyn and Matty, both turning 14, are taking over leadership of the group for the upcoming year. The weekly trash pickups will resume next summer. For now, during the school year, they have plans to focus on other community-helping action. One of the things they’re doing is selling their very stylish line of GLAM GALS T-shirts, which were designed by Devon and which sport informative tags designed by Candace Morgan, Piper’s mom. All proceeds from the T-shirt will be donated to Owen’s Playground, the girls’ choice, as will the five and ten dollar bills the girls found while picking up trash.
Devon said, “It’s such a blessing to live here. It’s so beautiful.” He has worried about raising Madrona on the Island: “It’s going to be challenging to show her how beautiful this place is. They have it so good around here.” He hopes that GLAM GALS is a step in the right direction. For one thing, they will actively work to care for it. For another, Devon said, it will teach the girls how to “give away money.” But it’s also “so cool to see these girls start to understand the streets they live on and their topography. None of them knew our zip code until we made the T-shirts.”
Another parent told Devon how amazing it is to see how focused the girls get when walking to do the work. Devon said, “It is noticeably different than any other experience I have had trying to get a group of young kids to move towards a common goal in a consistent manner. We have also noticed that there is very little competition between girls during pick ups. Sometimes they try to get the most full bag or find the weirdest thing, but in general there has been little drama.”
The intense focus continues on non-trash days too. When the girls were in Seattle for a sports event, they unconsciously started picking up trash from the city streets.
The girls are welcoming of new recruits of any gender and any age. If you want to join, e-mail glamgals98110@gmail.com or e-mail Kellie Stickney at kstickney@bainbridgewa.gov. Soon the girls will have a Facebook page too. If you want to buy a T-shirt, visit GLAM GALS at the Farmer’s Market. The Ts sell for $25.
GLAM GALS has one other rule besides the prohibitions on what can be picked up. The girls are also required to have fun. That one is clearly already in the bag.
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Photos by Sarah Lane.