While many members of the community enjoyed their Saturday morning by relaxing and while many students did not even wake up to see Saturday morning, residents from all over the Champaign area gathered in a community effort to clean up the Salt Fork River.

The 6th Annual Salt Fork River Cleanup started this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and lasted until 12:30 p.m. alongside the river at Salt Fork Forest Preserve in Homer, Ill. Around 175 volunteers from all over the area gathered to clean the river.

"We are attacking trash via water and land," said Erin Taylor, employee of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District — one of many groups who sponsored the cleanup.

The volunteers enlisted under different jobs. Some were assigned to walk alongside the river and pick up trash near the edge, while others paddled canoes down the river, carrying the trash they removed from the river, Taylor said.

"Picnickers and fishing are a large part of the problem," Taylor said. "There is a wide variety of trash — some of it is from active dumping, when people take their trash and dispose of it into the water, but about 50 years ago, they used the river as a dump, and so it keeps coming up, and so we have to deal with the trash that comes up from the bottom of the river as well."

Anything from fishing lines to softballs to kitchen sinks, ovens and picnic tables were pulled out of the river, Taylor said.

While most garbage was able to be picked up in the canoe and collected, some of it just wouldn't fit, said volunteer John Chato, member of the Izaak Walton League, a sponsor of the cleanup. Many of these items were car frames and one oven had to be disassembled to be placed into the canoe, he said.

"The question is, why do people enjoy throwing trash in the river?" said Chato. "It doesn't just disappear."

"We are just trying to get the trash out of the river's system to improve the quality for everyone that uses it," said Taylor. "And for that, we need a lot of hands to pick it up."

"Trash is everyone's business," said Myrtle Shove, volunteer member of the Izaak Walton League.

The members of the community were diverse in age, spanning from 4 to 80 years old. Boy Scout groups, University groups, fraternities and farmers were just a few of those who came out to help with the cleanup, Shove said.

Patricia Franke, professor of electrical engineering, and her 4-year-old son, Joseph, were among the many volunteers.

"My profession isn't this, so it's just something everyone can come out and do," said Franke.

Scott Winter, senior in FAA, was one who came on his own to help out.

"I did this two years ago with VIP (Volunteer Illini Projects) and this year they just sent out an e-mail to whoever was interested," Winter said.

"It's a great chance to help out with the environment, because sometimes it can get overlooked," Winter said. "It was also a great chance to get out and meet people with the same cause."

It wasn't all work and no play though, as many volunteers reported enjoying the experience.

"It was very peaceful going down the river, even with about 100 lbs. of scrap metal," Winter said.

Smiling, Franke gazed down at her son and patted his head.

"Joseph was the best trash spotter on the canoe," she said.