Living Lands and Waters Barge Overnight and River Cleanup

Kevin O'Donnell, 2019 Cohort

I first met Chad Pregracke when he came to the University of Dayton to give a speech about founding Living Lands and Waters. Some fellow stews and I were lucky enough to show him around the RiverMobile and talk with him for a bit before we attended his speech. I remember how great the speech was, and it was so enjoyable to be around Chad. When I heard that Living Lands and Waters had offered for ten River Stewards to come stay overnight on their barge. I knew that I could not pass this opportunity up. I knew that we were going to be volunteering with them at a river cleanup in the morning, but other than that I had very little idea of what we were going to be doing. Nonetheless, I was still very excited.

Morning on the Ohio River in Rabbit Hash, KY

We ate dinner as a group before heading out to drive to Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, where we would be boarding the barge. Out of curiosity, I googled Rabbit Hash and noticed that the town had a population of just over 300 people! While we were eating dinner, we heard from Katelyn that we had been invited to a barn dance in Rabbit Hash. I knew this was going to be a night to remember. We drove down windy roads in the pitch-black darkness to the tiny town of Rabbit Hash, KY. We got a glimpse of the barn dance that we would be attending later before we all gathered together to get a quick tour of the barge and where we would be sleeping.

Before we knew it, we were boarding a metal johnny boat with all our sleeping bags, pillows and backpacks. After driving around to the other side of the barge, we hopped off to see where we would be sleeping. I had no idea what to expect regarding our sleeping situation. I would have been completely fine with just sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag. Instead we walked into large room that was filled with air mattresses that had sleeping bags on top of them! Living Lands and Waters were incredibly welcoming in accommodating for us to sleep in what was normally used as a classroom, and I hope that they know how thankful we all were for that.

Group with Chad after our barge safety talk. 

After getting our sleeping areas set up, we boarded back onto the boat to head to the barn dance. The barn dance was a really unique experience and Rabbit Hash, in general, was one of the most unique locations I have ever been to. The live music was great and it seemed like the whole town was there having a great time. After the live music was over we gathered together again to head back onto the barge. When we were back on the barge we went up to the rooftop and had some nice late night conversation as we gazed up at the stars until we eventually decided that we should get some sleep for the river clean up early the next morning.

When we got up the next morning the crew of Living Lands and Waters had already made us breakfast and coffee. Again, they were incredibly welcoming! After we ate breakfast we finally got to work. The plan was to drive some of the boats upriver a bit and to pick up trash there and put it into piles on the shore. The trash would then be picked up by the boats and brought back to the barge. Since the river was very foggy early in the morning and driving the boat would have been a little dangerous, we instead began moving and organizing some of the trash that was already on the barge. It was great to see everyone working together to be more efficient. There were lots of assembly lines and people helping each other to carry some of the heavier pieces of trash. There was a crazy amount of trash on the barge and it was both concerning and uplifting knowing that all this trash had come out of our rivers.

Clean up crew on the trash barge. 

Once the fog cleared up we got on the boats to clean up trash from the river. The river bank was super muddy, but that didn’t stop any of us from getting dirty to clean the river. We were only picking up trash for about an hour, but we picked up a literal boat load of trash. The power of numbers is astounding! It would probably have taken a few days for just one person to clean up all that trash alone.

While we were cleaning the barge, I was alone helping Chad drive some trash to a different part of the barge and I got the chance to tell him how inspirational I found his story. He saw a problem and he didn’t sit around waiting for an opportunity to fall in his lap, where he would be able to make a difference. Chad created his own opportunity by just getting down to work and cleaning the river himself. He responded in his nonchalant aura with, “things are only as complicated as you make them.” I know that this will be a quote that is going to stick with me for a long time, and that I will never forget how genuine of an experience this was. I am so glad that the Rivers Institute and Living Lands and Waters have been able to develop this relationship that we have and I hope to see it further develop in the future!

Learn more about Living Lands and Waters and why Chad Pregracke won CNN Hero of the Year in 2013 in this amazing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_7Pal_iQs