Community leaders act to clean up Fremont Park

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A South Bend park scattered with trash has community leaders rolling up their sleeves to take care of the problem themselves.

Those living nearby say the daily mess is taking away from recently installed equipment and renovations.

The park has made several improvements over the last few months, adding a new splash pad, basketball court and repainting the playground equipment.

People in the community say they really like what’s been happening, but the trash buildup is frustrating.

One woman is using this issue to instill values in the kids in the community.

“This is all that we have. Fremont Park is all that they have on the north side,” said Kim Clowers from the Fremont Youth Foundation.

Fremont park is one of the only places that the kids in the community can go play.

The kids say they love the park.But what they don’t love—is the trash.

So Clowers spent her morning with the kids picking that trash up, because trash in the park has become the norm.

Almost every day trash cans are kicked over and their contents scattered across the ground.

“It sucks that this is normal,” said Clowers. “And that’s why we need to turn things around and that’s why I’ll be here every day.”

She says her goal is to teach these young kids to take care of the things they’re given.

“If we’re out here and we can keep instilling these values in them its going to stick and they will maintain the cleanliness,” she said.

Clowers says it’s time the community takes responsibility.

“It’s our park. Yeah the city comes out and cuts the grass and maintains it, but we live here. This is our backyard.”

She says a lot of the problem is lack of supervision.

Her message to parents: “Come have fun at the park with your kids.”

Clowers says she will keep working to keep the park clean because if it’s not clean, it’s not safe.