Josh Messitte Tailgate Outreach

This is some the trash items I saw on Sunday after the Missouri football game. For my service outreach project, I was part of the tailgate clean up group.

At first, I started at the Legion Pool area and found that a lot of other people were cleaning and it was a little hard to find trash. But as I made my way up the stream towards O-house dining commons, I began to see much more.

Once I reached the most densely populated area in terms of trash, I was very surprised to see not only the amount of cans and trash, but also the obscurity of some of the objects. Objects like broomsticks, tires, etc. We filled 3 trash bags of mostly cans and bottles.

As someone who actively tailgates here, I see trash thrown all over campus on football game days. Greek Park Circle, the area where I currently live is often flooded with cans, cups, and miscellaneous trash on Sundays. But I think my favorite part about this outreach was that we went to a less visited area of campus and got to pick up trash I don’t think would have gotten cleaned if it weren’t for us.

This also showed me that the employees of volunteers that do routinely clean after game days do not get everything, us going out there really does make a difference.