Have you been to Allied Gardens Community Park recently?

On Nov. 1, 2022, the morning after Halloween, people who visited the park, expecting to see candy wrappers, were surprised to see a series of ocean blue signs that had litter-grabbing tools hanging from them.

There were five such stations spread out along “the Peanut” (the affectionate name given to the park’s walking path).

The idea of the project is that if a random act of kindness, such as picking up a piece of litter, was made more convenient then more people would do it out of the kindness of their hearts. The name of the project is the Total Altruism Project. Their motto is “T.A.P. Into It”.

It has been proven that when someone does something out of the goodness of their heart they feel better about themselves. The project believes that if picking up a piece of litter was made more convenient, more people would feel a bit better about themselves, plus our environment would benefit from that increased act of kindness…and then the maintenance workers at the park would benefit from that added help…and local governments that budget for litter control would benefit.

The idea behind the project showed a profound “ripple effect” would occur…and, since the installation date, data on the project is showing that it is happening…and it is happening faster than anticipated.

Young families have been observed in the middle of the field looking for litter to pick up together. Dog-walkers are seen strolling about the park picking up litter. A person with a broken foot was observed hobbling about in their boot picking up litter, and the park’s maintenance workers are thrilled with the project.

Kelly Wood, San Diego Parks & Rec Area Manager II who oversees Allied Gardens Community Parks, noted, “We see people using this project all the time. It helps our staff tremendously, especially since we are short-staffed. There have been no complaints whatsoever…something I would have never expected. We love this project!” Wood is so happy with this project that she invited the T.A.P. Foundation to install a second study in any of the 15 other parks she manages. And the ripples keep extending outward…

San Diego Mesa College offers a Biostatistics course, Bio 200. The professor for that course, Julia Hoopes, used the T.A.P. project at AGC Park for their fall semester study.

Hoopes said, “Working with T.A.P. was a great opportunity for my students to engage in hands-on research. After collecting weeks of control data to get a baseline understanding of litter levels in the park, students were thrilled to finally see the T.A.P. stations installed and be able to assess the impact. It was exciting for us all to participate in a project that has a real impact on improving our communities.”

The results of the fall semester class showed that litter in the park decreased by 50%…a considerable decrease considering the park is relatively clean to start with. The project was such a success with Hoopes that she has asked that T.A.P. be repeated in a different park for her spring semester class.

The “ripple effect”, which begins with an individual picking up a piece of litter, was thought to touch so many lives that the Total Altruistic Project Foundation was created to make sure that T.A.P. would go public. They are a tax-deductible, nonprofit 501(c)(3) with a majority of the Board members being longtime members of our local Kiwanis Club of Grantville Allied Gardens. Our Allied Gardens Community Park was chosen for their first Feasibility Study.

With the urging of Parks and Rec., Mesa College, and much of the community wanting T.A.P. in other parks, the foundation will make Lake Murray Community Park & Ball Fields their site for their second Feasibility Study (est. mid-March) With a successful study at Lake Murray the foundation is hoping to attract corporate sponsorship to help spread city-wide, statewide, nation and worldwide.

Browse their website: TotalAltruismProject.org. Consider donating on their website to help speed along the ripple of good energy as this project is growing faster than planned and the financing needs to catch up…Mesa College and Parks & Rec are depending on you.

T.A.P Into It.

Editor’s note: The article and photos were submitted by area resident Gary Blume. Do you have a local story of interest? If so, email: [email protected].