Small but mighty Pepper Munoz keeps community clean

Posted

At 5 years old, Pepper Munoz already has made her mark on the community, helping her aunt, Karina, pick up trash littered around the neighborhood she calls home. 

On July 13, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz honored Pepper for cleaning trash from areas like Seton and Ewen parks, as well as along Johnson Avenue, after the neighborhood’s Independence Day celebrations.

“I think that when people do really good things for the community, it’s nice to recognize them,” Dinowitz said. “Now she’s only five years old, but I wanted to just find some simple way to say thank you and also encourage her in the hopes that other people would be encouraged to do similar things.”

But Pepper’s July 5 cleaning wasn’t the first time she hit the streets seeking out trash. In fact, Pepper got her start working alongside her aunt earlier this summer. The duo founded the Karina and Pepper Mission in June after Karina watched her niece throw candy wrappers onto the streets instead of into the garbage. It was then Karina decided to help Pepper understand the importance of keeping her neighborhood clean.

With the incentive of a small allowance, Pepper spends an hour picking up trash from communities in south Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil once or twice a week.

“My favorite part is picking up other people’s trash,” she said. “If I don’t pick up other people’s trash, then the world is going to be dirty forever.”

Pepper is focused on cleaning up, but earning recognition like the one from Dinowitz came as a surprise.

“She is 5, so it is hard for her to understand what is going on and why she is receiving all these recognitions,” said Mara Munoz, her mother.

And Pepper seems to have inspired others to get involved as well.  Since the mission began, the pair has gained a small following. There are a few volunteers who help on a weekly basis, as well as strangers who recognize Karina and Pepper from a recent television report who ask to join in on their clean up.

Before starting the Karina and Pepper Mission, Karina would spend time picking up litter from one or two streets. But the trash problem is much bigger than that. Karina wants at least five more people to join them so they can clean more streets and parks more thoroughly in less time, as well as raise awareness.

“It was really getting out of hand,” Karina said. “I live in this neighborhood, I want to see it clean, so let’s do this. The more volunteers I can get, the more we can tackle, then the more ground we can cover.”

Karina also hopes the city’s parks department and businesses along Johnson Avenue will take responsibility for the growing amounts of garbage on the streets and in the parks. 

As of now, however, Karina’s most reliable helper is Pepper, who finds cleaning up is more fun than it is work.

“What is inspiring is that she never required other children to participate,” Mara said. “She wanted to teach other children to do so, how to clean up the community and how to be involved in making sure that the world is cleaner for us.”

Pepper Munoz, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Karina and Pepper Mission, Mara Munoz, Anne W. Lord

Comments