Meet the Volunteers Who Show Up Every Single Clean-Up Day

Most volunteers join us for a clean-up here and there, which is entirely fine and genuinely helpful. But every rotation has a small core of residents who turn up at nearly every single one, rain or shine, and we wanted to understand what keeps that group coming back.

For several of them, it started with a personal frustration: a dumping spot near their own gate, a drainage channel that kept flooding their compound, a footpath their children could not use safely. The first clean-up solved their specific problem, and the habit simply continued from there.

Others mentioned the social side more than the environmental one. A Saturday morning clearing a footpath alongside neighbours they had lived near for years but rarely spoken to has, for a few of them, turned into the closest thing Donholm has to a regular community gathering.

A few are more practical about it: consistent volunteering means they are the first to know about new tree-planting opportunities, environmental education sessions and other programmes, and they simply prefer being involved rather than finding out after the fact.

Whatever the individual reason, this core group is quietly the backbone of every clean-up we run, briefing newcomers, knowing which tools go where, and setting the pace for everyone else. If you have been to two or three of our clean-ups already, there is a good chance you already know at least one of them.