How Picking Up Trash Became an Unexpected Community Movement with Penny Gibbons

Penny Gibbons started Trash People in 2022 with eight people, a plastic bag, and a reply to a stranger on the Logan Square community Facebook page. What began as a personal search for community has grown into an unexpected grassroots movement, now spanning nine neighborhoods.

In this episode of Notes from Chicago, Penny talks about how a neighborhood cleanup became the "gateway drug" to community participation, why she walked away from a marketing career to do work that actually aligns with her values, and how she's tackling loneliness and waste at the same time.

Follow Penny Gibbons:

Website:

• https://www.trashpeople.org
• https://www.thevolunteerfair.org

Instagram:

• https://www.instagram.com/trashpeopleofchicago
• https://www.instagram.com/thevolunteerfair
• https://www.instagram.com/theparlorchicago

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