PALMDALE – The city of Palmdale’s Trish Jones bested Waste Management’s Julianne Haress Thursday morning in a 40-foot downhill dash to the finish line on Dusty’s Mineshaft Racer at DryTown.
Both women took a serious drenching… for a good cause.
The race was the culmination of the city of Palmdale’s “Ready, Set, Go Green!” recycling fundraiser.
The event, now in its fourth year, is a joint effort by the city of Palmdale, the Palmdale Youth Council, DryTown, and Waste Management (WM) to promote awareness of the importance of recycling, while raising funds for the South Antelope Valley Emergency Services (SAVES).
“It encourages the residents to recycle, reduce and reuse, but I think more importantly, it encourages the kids to give back to their community, thus creating a sense of community pride that they may not have had before,” said Haress.
As part of “Ready, Set, Go Green!”, the Palmdale Youth Council held a recycling event on Aug. 4, which called for participants to bring recyclable cans and plastic bottles to DryTown.
“We raised about $105, which is the highest we’ve ever raised in a single day,” said Palmdale Youth Council member Jane Murcia.
“The money that was raised through this event went directly into SAVES’ day-to-day operations, and with that, we were able to purchase food that was directly then given to families who come to SAVES in need,” said SAVES Coordinator Patricia Morales.
Proceeds raised from the recycling event at DryTown were to be matched by Waste Management in order to double the donation to SAVES.
But at a press conference Thursday, Waste Management sweetened the pot.
“Waste Management will donate $250, which is more than twice the amount, if someone can beat me down the Dusty Racer slide,” said Haress.
Jones took on the challenge and earned a $250 check for SAVES.
“This just triples our ability to help people here in the Antelope Valley,” Jones said after the race.
“This event is exciting because it validates one of the very important success measures that Palmdale encourages, and that is partnership…” said Palmdale Council Member Tom Lackey. “This is a good example of the strong support and the good things that our youth are able and capable of doing.”
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