Community members are cleaning up trash around Kalispell

Some members of the homeless population in Kalispell have left remnants of makeshift dwellings and trash around town.

Now, some community members are coming together to help get it cleaned up.

“We're here to establish community bonds and help community members. handle a need. We saw a need. We heard about a need everybody was in an uproar about the need and we're out here fixing it,” said cleanup organizer Rebecca Couture.

An abandoned dwelling was found on the private property of Greggs Homes in Evergreen. Pieces of mobile homes for sale on the land were torn off and used to create a makeshift residence.

Kiana Wilson/MTN News

“People who can't find housing have to resort to other means and other options. Unfortunately, that meant removing materials from our products here on our lot," said Kayla Seaman whose family owns Greggs Homes. "And unfortunately, as they leave, you know the community is left to have to clean up their mess that they have left. And it's been a significant amount of work. I am so appreciative of the people who have come together to clean this up.”

While there are some homeless people creating messes around Kalispell, most do their best not to leave trash and have even been helping clean up the mess of others.

“We're kind of letting the community know that like all people who are in impoverished situations aren't bad people. So it needs to be cleaned up and we're cleaning it up," said Jesse Green, a homeless person in Kalispell helping with the cleanup. "[It] is bad because you know, it makes it harder for the person that doesn't do that. Everybody's not doing that, man. Everybody's not doing it and it just makes it harder for the next person."

Kiana Wilson/MTN News

The creator of Winter’s Kitchen — a group of volunteers that provides meals for the homeless over the winter — has been spearheading this cleanup. But there is more work to be done around town.

“So Winter's Kitchen is going to need a lot more help, you know continuously, to not just clean up this property but other properties around our community," Seaman told MTN. "Because the biggest thing is keeping our community safe and keeping our community clean."

Greggs Homes tried to keep homeless people off their property over the last year calling the police when they were trespassing on the property.

The Flathead County Sheriff's Office reports there have been 21 calls for service at Greggs Homes between April of 2023 and April of 2024.