The sun blazed like summer, but the breeze hinted at fall as the Colorado Springs Homeless Union held a cleanup event at Dorchester Park on Sept. 14. The Homeless Union has formally adopted a stretch of the Pikes Peak Greenway trail from Dorchester Park to the America the Beautiful Park and hosts monthly cleanup events on second Saturdays.
Dorchester Park, which sits against Fountain Creek between S. Nevada Avenue and S. Tejon Street, near I-25, is not a park where families bring kids to play; there is nothing to play on. The park has a reputation for being a place where the unhoused camp, and for being unsafe.
On the afternoon of Sept. 14, a few tents were pitched in corners of the park; someone within one coughed repeatedly. A younger woman sat beneath the bridge on the park’s edge and rocked an infant car seat containing two baby dolls, over and over again.
There are no toilets at the park, and no trash cans, a common condition in local public spaces – that is why access to sanitation measures like bathrooms and waste disposal is a main priority for the Homeless Union. The cleanup events are one way the group is addressing this community need.
Homeless Union member Kandy Lewis wheeled a double-decker wagon full of cleanup supplies: gloves, trash bags and trash pickers. Cleanup participants spread out along the trail and worked steadily.
Don Briggs, who is unhoused, wore thick gloves and carefully removed needled syringe after needled syringe from the vegetation surrounding the trail. Other participants would occasionally approach, slowly, and carefully place another one in the sharps box Briggs carried. The Homeless Union partnered with the nonprofit Richard’s Rubbish Roundup to dispose of the syringes and needles at Healthcare Medical Waste Services.
Doug Roberts, who is also unhoused, approached Briggs to ask about the cleanup event. Briggs described the Homeless Union and its trail cleanups; Roberts nodded approvingly.
Roberts said he’s been living unhoused for about six months.
“I lost my job, couldn’t pay rent, so I got booted,” he said, adding that he now has a new fulltime job.
“I’ve got a good head on my shoulders, so I’m just trying to work and be out here at the same time,” he said. “It’s hard, but I’m making it happen.”
He said he thinks it will be a few more months before he has enough saved to get his own place again. He’s trying to get there before winter really sets in. Until then, he’s sleeping out, and hopefully staying safe.
For more information on the Colorado Springs Homeless Union, see our reporting at PikesPeakBulletin.org and follow them on their Facebook page.