GOVERNMENT
Tim Nuanes, 48, Amarillo Creek
Why did you decide to help clean up Maricopa? It’s giving back to the community. I’m one of those guys who sees trash in a parking lot and picks it up. I usually carry a little bag in
Talking trash Volunteers talk trash, community pride and the surprising things they found during a city cleanup BY RYAN TAFOYA
my truck and fill it up with trash that I see sometimes. What does community pride look like to you?
I think when everybody comes together and you see that support that everybody wants to make Maricopa a clean place. I think it’s beautiful. I think Maricopa is a beautiful place, and that’s why, about five years ago, I called it home, and I’ve been here ever since. What’s the most common item you found during your clean-up today? A lot of plastic and batteries. I’d say a lot of coffee cups, soda cups, stuff like that. What’s the strangest item you found? A lot of dead birds. We picked up probably seven dead birds in one spot, so maybe the coyotes are getting them.
N
bags and a shared goal of making their community a little cleaner. For many, it served as a reminder that keeping Maricopa beautiful isn’t just a city effort — it’s a community one.
OT EVERYONE WANTS TO SPEND A SATURDAY MORNING picking up litter. But for a handful of Maricopa residents, giving back to the community was reason enough to set an early alarm.
Participants gathered outside the Maricopa Community Center in the city’s latest “Keep Maricopa Beautiful” event, armed with gloves, trash
Editor’s note: Interviews have been lightly edited for brevity and readability.
James Cole, 62, Rancho Mirage
Christa Toulsen, 47, Cobblestone Farms
Why did you decide to help clean up Maricopa? My wife and I are new here to Maricopa. We love the community and I saw where they were doing the cleanup, so we wanted to volunteer. What does community pride look like to you? Community pride means taking care of each other, looking out for one another, being friendly and making Maricopa a place where people want to live.
Why did you decide to help clean up Maricopa? Several months ago, I decided to get more involved in the community. My youngest child is now 15, so I figure I can either spend the mornings by myself, or I can get out and interact with the community and help take care of things. What does community pride look like to you? Volunteering like this and there’s so many opportunities to engage with the community, to be out and get to know the people you’re living with. That’s community pride for me, just being comfortable being out and about. What’s the most common item you found during your clean-up today? Napkins. There’s napkins everywhere and water bottles. It’s things that people probably drop and just don’t really think about. What’s the strangest item you found? I found a glass bottle with a leaf in it, so I’m guessing there may have been a little critter inside.
Community pride means taking care of each other.” JAMES COLE
What’s the most common item you found during your clean-up today? Cigarette butts.
Nyah Larson, 26, Rancho El Dorado
Lainey Cole, 60, Rancho Mirage
Why did you decide to help clean up Maricopa? I genuinely like picking up trash, but I also like the idea of keeping Maricopa beautiful. The bigger the city grows, the more trash is going to accumulate. I just kind of want to make sure that we as a group are collectively making sure to pick it up rather than just pollute the land. What does community pride look like to you? I think just like creating opportunities for everyone and being inclusive in a community. I think that’s really where pride counts, when we all love and appreciate each other for what we bring to the table. What’s the most common item you found during your clean-up today? Dude, cigarette butts. Those little guys are hard to pick up with [the grabbing tool]. Maybe I was just frustrated trying to pick them up, but a lot of cigarette butts. What’s the strangest item you found? I found half of a coconut and a bunch of car parts in a ditch.
Why did you decide to help clean up Maricopa? I wake up early every day and my husband saw this event and said, “Lainey, that would be so fun.” He put it on his calendar and has just been reminding me all week. I went to bed super late last night, but I promised the Lord that I would be out here. What does community pride look like to you? Like this, people getting out to keep the community clean. It’s nice to make the city cleaner and more presentable so people can look around and say, “Wow, this is a really nice place to live.” What’s the most common item you found during your clean-up today? McDonald’s bags, cigarette butts and plastic cups. What’s the strangest item you found? A bird that looked like a mini stork. It looked like it had been there for a minute and like so many people had walked over it.
InMaricopa.com | July 2026
July 2026 | InMaricopa.com
18
19
Powered by FlippingBook