Hilltoppers volunteer in cleanup of Bucktown Marsh in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Saturday morning, the WKU football team spent part of their day volunteering in the community at the Bucktown Park.

The team split up into two groups, with some Tops working on sodding around the trees while the others headed straight into the Bucktown Marsh.

Trash builds up very quickly in the marsh from rain and busy times in the city like Mardi Gras.

Picking up trash is just one of the ways the Pontchartrain Conservancy works on preserving the park, and having the Hilltoppers there to help makes a huge difference.

“It’s really great to have people come out and assist with the cleanup efforts,” field research coordinator Jack Connolly said. “We found Mardi Gras cups from years ago out in the marsh, and if we don’t have people actively coming out and putting in the effort to keep our marsh beautiful, it’ll degrade, and this trash needs to be picked up, so we really appreciate the volunteer effort.”

Without volunteers, the trash can negatively impact the native species in the marsh and even the wildlife, but the Tops were grateful to not have any run-ins on this trip with anything that slithers or chomps.

“You never really know how much debris is out there in the wild and stuff,” linebacker Eli Jones said. “Luckily we didn’t run into any animals, which we we’re kind of scared of, but you never know how much trash is out there and it kind of just awakens you to what’s going on in the world.”

The Hilltoppers are set to take on Southern Miss in the 2025 New Orleans Bowl on Tuesday, December 23, inside Caesar’s Superdome.