Prospective Service Project: Waller Creek Clean-Up

            Dozens of Spirits and prospectives made their way to downtown Austin on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The fifty-five degree weather made for a perfect day to clean up Waller Creek. Dressed in work gloves and rain boots, actives and prospective worked together to beautify the creek while getting to know one another. Service Haunts, Jocelyn Matyas and Mayté Salazar organized the event to show the prospectives just what spirits means to them.

            “Not only did we get down and dirty doing some real work picking up trash, but we also had an environment where it was easy for girls to talk and get to know each other. At the same time, we wanted to do it somewhere special, and so, we thought of Waller Creek,” Mayté Salazar, Spring ’11 weenie, said. 

          Spirits and prospectives were not afraid to get their hands dirty in the creek. Ladies trekked through the mud and shallow water along a mile and a half stretch of the creek picking up trash and even deaf fish. The city of Austin has begun work on developing Waller Creek of the next twenty years to make it more resident friendly, so Spirits was proud to help with their efforts.
          In addition to cleaning up Waller Creek, ladies at the event could take pictures and write notes and jokes for Spirits’ own Maysie Ocera’s sister Emma, who was recently diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor called an ependymoma. Over the winter break, Maysie sought out Spirits to submit pictures with hats on, jokes and notes of love and encouragement to a Facebook page titled, “Hats On For Emma.” Lots of silly pictures were taken for a scrapbook that Spirits plans to make for Emma along with plenty of jokes, which are Emma’s favorite.

            Mayté added, “What better way to show prospectives what service means to us than to do service for one of our own?”

            Our 66 prospectives enjoyed working along side the actives and could definitely see the love and friendship present among us.

            “Volunteering with a group of people who enjoy each other and are all excited to be serving the community really took it to the next level! It was great being around people who truly care,” Jordan Kohler, spring ’12 prospective, said.

            The prospective service project in Waller Creek was a definite success, both in reaching out to the Austin community and getting to know their potential weenies.