Nickerson encampment cleaned last Wednesday

A team consisting of personnel from the City of Olympia, employees of Advance Environmental, Olympia Mutual Aid Partners and individuals who live at the Nickerson encampment on Wheeler Avenue made quick work of a clean-up project at the site on August 25.
              
Although it initially set aside more time for the clean-up, the City found that only five and a half hours from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday were needed to complete the work. One factor that helped speed the project toward completion was the work of individuals who live at the camp.
              
“The folks at the camp were working alongside the clean-up crew, and things went very smoothly. Folks were very excited to have the clean space afterward,” said Dylan Guthridge, a program aide for the Scattered Site Program, which the City and Thurston County rolled out in July as a way of addressing issues related to unsheltered individuals in local encampments. A grant from the program funded the clean-up.
              
Cleaning the Nickerson site represents the latest in a series of projects the City has dedicated to achieving the health and safety goals of the One Community Plan, which community members developed to guide the City’s response to homelessness. Clean-ups from earlier in the year include Deschutes Parkway, Ensign Road and Pattison Street.

The above was provided by the City of Olympia.