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PROVO #8212; The winter storm that swept through Utah last weekend may be over, but cleanup efforts are far from finished. Now Provo city leaders are asking for help.
Residents there are responsible for cleaning up the mess of downed trees and branches on their own property. But for those who can't pick it up on their own, the city is asking for volunteers.
Saw off remaining limbs, form a pile, pick it up and dump it: it's the kind of work that needs a team.
"It's going to be a slow and steady process," said Provo City spokeswoman Helen Anderson.
Provo has teamed up with United Way to get neighbors to help neighbors, and a Boy Scout troop KSL News met Wednesday night is just one group that's signed on.
"I want to do everything I can to help this neighborhood and improve it," said Boy Scout Owen Clark.
"I feel good doing it, and it helps them because they can't do it, then we're there to help them," fellow Boy Scout Dakota Christensen said.
Dakota, Owen and their troop were helping those who couldn't cleanup on their own — people like Shaun Blake. His wife just had a baby, had in-laws at his home and no truck or trailer to pull the load.
"I didn't know what I was going to do with those branches," Blake said.
"We know a lot of (residents) can't take care of it, for a number of reasons — it might be their age, their health, or they just don't have the right equipment," Anderson said, "and so we really depend on the community to step up and help their neighbors."
It's the help of neighbors that's going to turn the city back into the calm before the storm.
If you live in Provo and need help with cleanup, or you want to volunteer, you can reach United Way by calling 211.
Salt Lake City also has downed limbs and branches all around town. City workers there will do a one-time cleanup next week, from Nov. 19 through Nov. 21.
That will give city-dwellers this weekend to
