Modesto man starts effort to clean up Stanislaus River
MODESTO — A Modesto man is giving back to his community by cleaning up the Stanislaus River.
David Down started his effort to clean up the Stanislaus River one piece of trash at a time with what he is calling "Expedition Apogee."
"The apogee is just the highest point in development. We are an outdoor organization. We are out here doing cleanups on the Stanislaus River, starting from nightsbury [and] kind of working our way down into Ripon," Down said.
What started as him and his friend using a boat to pick up trash from in and around the river has turned into a group effort.
"We're able to draw a lot of volunteers through our Instagram page. We have a lot of social media presence, so we usually post there. We get a lot of people engaged and interested," Down said.
The project started two weeks ago and has had roughly 20 volunteers per clean up. Down said he is looking into becoming a nonprofit.
"We're cleaning for everybody to enjoy — the animals, the species — to keep it natural and beautiful, right? That's the whole point of what we're doing. We are huge on recreation. We're huge on getting people outside because that's where we believe we're meant to be. We're supposed to be outside. We're supposed to be enjoying these places," Down said.
