On Sunday January 24th 2021 over 100 gym owners, employees, and workout enthusiasts gathered in downtown Portland and cleaned up litter from nearly 100 square blocks. The results were fantastic, as we filled up an entire dumpster with the trash we collected, as well as several dozen sharps that we put into appropriate containers and gave to health officials from Multnomah County for correct disposal.
The purpose of the litter clean up was to give gyms (both staff and members) a unified voice that we believe we can operate safely with safety protocols in place, and we hoped that our message would reach Kate Brown and convince her to reconsider her position of keeping gyms entirely closed. The reason we chose a litter clean up is that we believe gyms have a positive impact on the community (both physically and mentally) and we wanted to create an event that would parallel that same positivity – and getting that much trash cleaned up is certainly a positive thing both for the people in downtown Portland and for the environment!
The way we organized the event was that everyone met at Director Park, took a quick group photo, and divided into four groups and cleaned up each quadrant as shown below. To demonstrate our commitment to COVID safety, we ensured that everyone wore a mask throughout the event and maintained as much physical distance as possible.
Industrial Strength took lead on the event, but we couldn’t have done it without the substantial support from many other facilities all over Oregon. People showed up from yoga studios, weightlifting gyms, jiu jitsu academies, bootcamps, pilates studios, kettlebell gyms, powerlifting clubs, Jazzercise, and more. We want to thank everyone for helping spread the word and the support!
