SAZ COEJL Helps Clean Up Mt. Lemmon

The Southern Arizona Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (SAZ COEJL), sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona, is sending a volunteer work crew from the community to help clean-up private debris surrounding a privately owned cabin which was destroyed in this summer’s Aspen fire on Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains just outside of Tucson.

One work crew of about 20 people will spend the morning of Sunday, November 23 cleaning up a site of about one acre in size. The property to be cleaned is one of a small percentage of the total number of cabins destroyed by the fire and fall into a “special circumstances category” as defined by Pima County; that is, the property owners are unable to do the work themselves due to age, infirmity, or economic situation. The strenuous work includes removing heavy debris (concrete, metal, ash) from a second home site that was destroyed in the fire, as well as cleaning up portions of roads. In addition, volunteers will also pick up litter left behind, by necessity, by firefighters in their efforts to control the fire.

Participation in this event was open to all members of the Tucson community who were able and over the age of 16, with advance reservations required. The JCRC coordinated the effort to seek volunteers by means of an e-alert sent to everyone on the JCRC email list; in addition, some volunteers came to the project by referral from the Volunteer Center as well as a group of Americorps NCCC volunteers currently working in Tucson. SAZ COEJL coordinated with local government and nonprofit organizations to provide masks, hard hats and work gloves for participants. We salute SAZ COEJL for engaging in such a wonderful tikkun olam effort in their own backyard to help restore a precious, unique part of the environment.

The mission of SAZ COEJL is to permanently integrate concern for the environment into the fabric of Jewish life. For further information, email saz_coejl@yahoo.com, or go to: www.sazcoejl.org