Cool Kid Lily Rowe is cleaning up the streets of Encino

Friday, March 9, 2018
Cool Kid Lily Rowe is cleaning up the streets of Encino
If you were driving in Encino Sunday, you may have seen an army of volunteers dressed in yellow T-shirts that read, "Clean Up Encino Day

ENCINO, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- If you were driving in Encino Sunday, you may have seen an army of volunteers dressed in yellow T-shirts that read, "Clean Up Encino Day."

It was organized by 16-year-old Lily Rowe, a junior at Campbell Hall High School.

"There is so much trash out there," said Rowe, "And it's also one of those things that you don't even realize it's there, until you really look."

Rowe got the idea when her father started complaining about the trash on their neighborhood street.

"He always took my dogs out on walks at night, and he's constantly complaining about the trash that he'd see around," she said. "I asked him, 'What are you going to do about it?' I decided that instead of just leaving it there, we should take action."

With the help of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, Rowe got corporate sponsors, organized supplies and volunteers. The entire team then fanned out to two locations, cleaning up trash from the public grass areas, gutters and streets.

"Lily is really the one that pushed for this event and helped plan it with her dad," said volunteer Robert Newman. "I think we need more people to take that interest in the community and want to make a change for the better."

After hauling away countless bags of trash, this ABC7 "Cool Kid" thanked all of the volunteers and now wants to expand "Clean Up Encino Day" into something much larger.