Cleaned up river

It is always fun to have new people join in our enthusiasm to keep our river clean of debris in our Amigos del Rio Reverse River Run. And it's especially fun when they have children who are learning about the importance of taking care of our natural resources.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Richard Hill, his wife, Haley, daughter Jordan and son Cody are river people and believe in helping keep our river clean. They made it their mission to come out and join us. So we not only want to thank them for their support for our cause, but also for Richard's service to our country. We were honored to have them with us.

Since October is breast cancer awareness month, our shirts were in two colors of pink with the ribbon of hope on the sleeve. All of our river men are manly enough to wear pink and they wore it proudly that day.

During the evening awards presentations, a gentleman from the RV park came to check out what all the excitement was about. Part of our objective is to spread the word about keeping our river clean, so we are always happy to share what our purpose is with whomever wants to listen. After hearing about our 24 years of cleaning up the river, he kindly donated $100 to the cause, which we in turn donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

We had 11 boats and 47 people in attendance this year. These hard workers collected two large dumpsters of trash and tires. In the process, they really worked up an appetite and quickly devoured the evening meal so we could get on with the awards presentations.

Much appreciated are the sponsors that make sure we have enough “awards” for these happy volunteers. They were Martinez Lake Cantina, Yuma Marine and Supply, Wild West Motorsports, Viejas Casino, Fishers Landing Bar and Grill, Martinez Lake Marina, Bingham Carquest, Hipp Marine of San Diego, Fishers Landing Boat Shop, Martinez Lake Sales, Foothills Lumber, P and L Works, Black Rhino of El Cajon, Yuma River Tours and Lori Cook of the Yuma BLM Office.

Thanks also to Vannessa Herrera of Fox News 9 and Max from the 6 a.m. early show at KTTI for their interviews. Roxanne Molenar from the Yuma Sun, your support is much appreciated.

Also, many thanks to our behind-the-scenes helpers that cook the evening meal and take care of the awards presentations – Randy and Linda Knowlton, Linda Koho, Ron, Julie, and Danelle Knowlton. And Jodi Knowlton did an awesome job as master of ceremonies for the event.

Smokey and Judy Knowlton
River Run Organizers