Hello, my name is Kimberly Zepeda. I attended the L.A River cleanup on Saturday, April 22, 2017. It was a very hot day but we went out there to do what we had to do. It was a great experience and was glad to be part of it. Last semester I wasn't able to participate at the beach cleanup but I enjoined this one. I was amazed of all the trash I seen that day which was market carts, clothes, and food consumers buy and how there wasn't too many cigarettes. I pass by a part the L.A River everyday coming to school and I never noticed how much trash there is. I was also amazed of how many people went that day and even little kids were helping. It made me feel sad/mad that many people litter without thinking of the future and the next generation. I saw homeless people living there, I saw one with three cats. Experiencing nature this kind of way made me realize that I haven't experience it as much as I would before. I can't imagine how the L.A River would look if we (Families or Friends) wouldn't be involved cleaning up.

 Not only did I see trash but I was able to see two ducks in the water. It's sad to think that animals like the ducks to suffer from all this trash that is being litter from people. It wasn't even half an hour that we started, and I was almost done filling up a bag of trash. I would definitely do it because I am helping my community to stay clean. In the reading, "A Life of the Senses" by Richard Louv, he said "As we grow more separate from nature, we continue to separate from one another physically." This cleanup was an experience for me of nature because instead of staying home laying down or doing something unproductive I was outside helping out at the Friend of the L.A River.