When Lily walked along the path beside the river, she noticed how much trash was tangled in the reeds and floating near the banks. It made her feel very upset.
She told her parents that night. Someone should clean that up, she said. Dad raised an eyebrow and said, Someone like who?
Lily thought about it. She made some flyers on the computer and put them up around the neighborhood, asking people to come help on a Saturday morning.
She was worried no one would show up. But that Saturday, twelve neighbors arrived with gloves and garbage bags. Even the elderly couple from down the street came.
They spent three hours picking up cans, plastic bags, bottles, and other trash from the water and the muddy bank. The bags filled up quickly.
When they were done, the river looked so much better. Light glinted off the clean water. A duck paddled by as if to say thank you.
The local newspaper sent a reporter to take a photo. The headline the next day read: Ten-Year-Old Organizes Neighborhood River Cleanup. Lily's mom cut it out and framed it.
But what mattered most to Lily was not the headline. It was knowing that the fish and ducks and herons would have a cleaner home because she had decided to do something.