Residents living in and around Morton who need assistance with everyday projects such as lawn mowing, trash and debris removal, basic landscaping and more now have a new resource to assist them with those projects — Heart of Morton.
The volunteer effort is being led by Morton City Councilors Peter Hansen and Charlie Clevenger, who talked about the new nonprofit during the Sept. 28 Morton City Council meeting.
“It’s basically just me and Charlie volunteering our time if anybody needs help with anything,” Hansen said. “The way to contact us will be through this (Facebook) group.”
He added they are assisting people on a case-by-case basis, as there are many reasons why a resident might need help with the aforementioned projects.
“When me and Charlie first talked about it, it was people that couldn’t fix their yard. They didn’t have a lawn mower, or they didn’t have the ability to mow their grass,” Hansen said. “... If you have trash sitting around, we can haul it to the dump. I have a trailer, and Charlie has a vehicle to use as well. So, minor and smaller things, but if there’s other things, reach out and ask. (The worst) we’re going to do is say ‘no, it’s a little too big for us.’ But we’ll take a look at any project that somebody brings to our attention.”
He added he and Clevenger are using their own personal funds to pay for the work and gas needed to help. For those needing help, Hansen and Clevenger can be reached on the Heart of Morton Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/4jy9dwzb.
Hansen and Clevenger haven’t been the only members of the council to volunteer in the community, as Councilor Jeff Johnson also provided an overview of a recent cleanup day at Gust Backstrom Park held by the Friends of the Morton Parks (FOMP).
FOMP is a nonprofit founded in 2018 that partners with the City of Morton to clean and maintain the parks, along with vendor markets, community yard sales and other events, according to its Facebook page.
With Sept. 19 being National Clean Up Day, Johnson said FOMP members came out to clean and more.
“We had 23 local businesses sign on as supporters or sponsors, and we had 34 people at the park. We picked up all kinds of garbage. What was really cool was, an example would be Charlie and his kid, Hendrix, hanging out together cleaning the park,” Johnson said. “We had tons of little kids that were playing around and having fun. Our newest residents, Tammy and Paul back there, my friends were there. We just had a really good showing.”
He stressed the need to hire a new full-time caretaker at the park, as with the RV camping spots at Gust Backstrom, there were “a few unsavory areas, to say the least.”
Back in August, the council approved a temporary pay raise for the park caretaker — who aside from getting a camper site at the park gets a monthly $2,000 stipend, as opposed to the previous stipend of $1,000. The caretaker’s role is to maintain the park and RV hookup sites. Money for the pay increase is coming from the city’s tourism fund. Also on the budget committee, Hansen is incorporating a permanent pay raise for the position into Morton’s 2027 budget.
FOMP members are also mapping out tent camping sites at the park, and will soon have that designated as a camping site as well. For more information or to get involved, visit FOMP’s website at https://www.fompwa.org/ or follow the nonprofit on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FOMPWA.
Johnson and the FOMP members weren’t the only ones cleaning on Sept. 19, as Councilor Jason Sawyer added he was involved in downtown Morton cleanup efforts lead by Morton resident Sara Smiley.
“The weather was perfect, and there were about a dozen people who helped us pick up trash in the downtown area,” Sawyer said.
“In all, we collected about 20 buckets of trash, and Sara even took the responsibility of disposing of all of it. So, a big thanks to Sara Smiley.”
