PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The VOLUNTEER
54 Port St. Lucie Magazine
JOHN BIONDO
It’s a dirty job, but Gary Smith, a one-man cleaning machine, loves coordinating the many volunteers who help him pick up litter along city streets.
Gary Smith, a retired Pittsburgh bankruptcy attorney,
takes pride in a clean environment. He has singlehandedly
amassed an army of volunteers who patrol
a quadrant of the city in the Parks Edge neighborhood
where the main roadways were strewn with trash.
His one-man attack on litter spans the past six years, during
which Smith initiated a partnership with the city, supporting
its Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful mission.
“This is much bigger than keeping the city beautiful,” he
says. “It’s about getting people’s attention and preventing
them from littering.” To that end, Smith searches for ways to
curb the culture of litter.
It all began post retirement; a city employee challenged
him to do something about an area that received a high volume
of litter hotline complaints. In 2010, he found his calling:
cleanup duty once a week for six months, riding in a golf
cart for eight hours as an unpaid city worker. As part of the
Adopt-A-Street program, Smith attended an orientation, was
handed an ID badge and got down to business.
His dedication led him to attend a statewide conference
with Carmen Capezzuto — then the city’s project manager
in charge of solid waste. “He gets it and he doesn’t give up,”
says Capezzuto, who appreciates Smith’s resolve. Smith also
has a partnership with Sherman Conrad, Parks and Recreation
director. “He’s a great guy — he gets the job done!”
Then in 2011, Smith laid the groundwork that some
thought could never be done. He contacted the manager of a
McDonald’s and the PNC Bank and solicited the assistance
of employees to maintain their outer perimeters and parking
lots. These relationships are still fruitful today.
“I call it the Evolution of Darwin,” he says, playfully referring
to Darwin Boulevard’s residential area. “There are some
eyesores where food containers and wrappers wind up, but
overall, we are making a difference.”
It is the perfect incubator for litter control, matching eager
volunteers within the variety of schools, shops, offices and
residences.
Smith gives volunteers what they need and donates supplies:
safety vests and grabbers. He worked closely with the
inventor of the “Litter Loop” — a simple device that costs
little to make and aids in the containment of trash.
He is a card-carrying leader of PSL: People Serious (about)
Litter, and uses the business cards he had printed as a recruiting
tool. There is an informational website (www. peopleseriousaboutlitter.
com) with a photo gallery and a page dedicated
to the project that describes how residents, businesses and
the city work together.
A longtime member of Rotary International, Smith epitomizes
their motto, “Service above Self,” and lives it daily.
An ordained minister and well-read theologian, he confronts
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BY DEBRA MAGRANN