We’re gonna miss you Helen!
Posted February 7, 2013 at 5:00 am by Tim Dustrude
Brian Rader sent this note over about Helen Venada leaving her position as Waste Reduction and Recycling Coordinator:
This week marks the end of an era in San Juan County. After 24 years of service, both as a contractor and as an employee, Helen Venada will be leaving employment with San Juan County.
As I travel around the islands visiting with local businesses concerning waste and pollution issues, it has always impressed me how many folks appreciate and praise Helen’s commitment to environmental issues, especially her efforts in waste prevention: helping people find creative ways to use and re-use unwanted items, aggressively promoting recycling, and reducing the amount of materials that we send to landfills. This, along with her work with kids in our schools, is her passion.
It was not long after I started calling on local businesses that I was first introduced to Helen’s nickname, ‘Hazardous Helen’. A business owner used the name to express how grateful they were for Helen’s efforts to begin the county program for collection of unwanted hazardous chemicals: The San Juan County Hazardous Waste Round-Up collection events. Before this event was held, households and businesses really had no way to correctly dispose of these dangerous chemicals. Since the first Round-Up, held on September 9, 1989, approximately 500 tons of hazardous waste has left our island community for proper disposal on the mainland. This is an incredible statistic and a herculean accomplishment! Our quality of life, and the health of the environment in our island community, is improved as a direct result of Helen’s tireless commitment.
Please join me in expressing thanks to Helen for all the hard work, and wishing her happiness and good fortune in all her future endeavors!
And… maybe the best way we can say thanks: try to work a little harder on our own waste prevention efforts – reduce, reuse, recycle!
-Brian Rader, Pollution Prevention Specialist, San Juan County: brianr [@] sanjuanco . com 370-7581.
You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.
Categories: Around Here
One comment:
One comment...
Put in plain terms, for her many years of hard work and committment Helen is being LAID OFF. One would think she deserves better. But even considering the situation selfishly, who is going to do all that work now that Helen is gone? We are, most of us,impressed and stirred to action by her example. But,for example, which of us in going to do the work to put together a hazardous waste round-up? What happens to all the stuff that does not get collected?
For sure, Helen deserves better. But we, and our environment, also deserve better.
By submitting a comment you grant the San Juan Update a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate, irrelevant and contentious comments may not be published at an admin's discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.