If you were stuck in a long line of traffic Saturday morning heading west on Bouquet Canyon Road near Alamogordo Road in Saugus, it’s because a group of almost 100 volunteers were spreading mulch along the sidewalk as part of the city of Santa Clarita’s third annual Saugus Community Beautification Day.  The city blocked the two righthand lanes of traffic between Alamogordo and Seco Canyon Road to make room for those who wanted to help create positive change in the community. According to Maria Huerta, an administration analyst for the city of Santa Clarita’s Community Preservation Division, the city had two project locations on Saturday — the mulching project along Bouquet and a trash pick-up project in the riverbed behind Chi Chi’s Pizza off Soledad Canyon Road.  City of Santa Clarita streets supervisor Robert Greigo (far right) speaks to volunteers at the Community Beautification Day in Saugus on Saturday along Bouquet Canyon Road near Central Park. Katherine Quezada/The Signal “We’re also providing free mulch and free compost pickup,” Huerta said at the volunteer station in Central Park before people got to work. “We’re trying to combat the property maintenance side of it, to help out those who don’t have the means to be able to buy compost or mulch.”  Volunteers work along Bouquet Canyon Road spreading mulch and picking up trash during the Community Beautification Day in Saugus on Saturday near Central Park. Katherine Quezada/The Signal And then there was the bulky item drop-off that the city and Burrtec Waste Industries, the waste and recycling services company, set up at Central Park.  According to Scott Bachrach, a project technician for the city, Burrtec provided 40 yards of mulch and 40 yards of compost for residents to take for free. That’s in addition to the 300 yards of mulch that Burrtec gave for the beautification project along Bouquet.  According to David Crooks, sales and recycling coordinator for Burrtec, his company was offering the bulky-item drop-off at Central Park during the beautification event to not only haul away items for the community, but also to let people know that they don’t have to illegally dump.  “If you’re a city of Santa Clarita resident and you give us a call, you get three bulky item pickups per year,” Crooks said. “It’s three items within the three pickups, so you can have as much as nine items picked up.”  He added that residents can also drop off bulky items, free of charge, at Burrtec, which is at 26000 Springbrook Avenue, Suite 101, in Santa Clarita.   Bachrach said the city was even going through the nearby neighborhoods Saturday morning to see if anyone had bulky items that they could pick up and haul away for them. Burrtec had two 40-yard dumpsters at the park to collect it all. Bachrach said he was expecting to fill both dumpsters by noon.  All morning, volunteers were spreading the 300 yards of mulch along Bouquet.   aitej Chikati, an eighth grader from Rancho Pico Junior High School pours a wheelbarrow full of mulch onto the vegetation along Bouquet Canyon Road during the Community Beautification Day in Saugus on Saturday. Katherine Quezada/The Signal Stevenson Ranch resident Ernest Siy was putting on gloves and a mask before spreading mulch with fellow helpers. Siy was along Bouquet with his wife, Sherry. This isn’t the first time he and his wife have volunteered.   “We’re grateful to live in a community like this,” he said. “So, this is our way of just giving back.”  Valencia resident Anita Singh was also glad to give back to the community.   Volunteers assist the city of Santa Clarita staff in distributing mulch along Bouquet Canyon Road on Saturday for the Community Beautification Day in Saugus. Katherine Quezada/The Signal “When I was younger,” she said, “we had to volunteer to get hours for school. Now, it’s different. I get to do it because I want to.”  Some students were there working with shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to get community hours for school. According to Gabby Vera, city volunteer engagement coordinator, she’s seen that often at these types of events.  “Schools make it a requirement so that students can be part of their honor clubs and key clubs, to care about their larger community, and students begin to volunteer as a requirement,” she said. “It’s not until their later years that they reflect back on their experience, and then they come back to volunteer because now they have a deeper appreciation for others and the neighborhood that they live in.”  For more information about city events and programs like the Saugus Community Beautification Day, go to GreenSantaClarita.com.  Sophia Young, a seventh-grader from Rio Norte Junior High School, evenly spreads the mulch onto the vegetation along the sidewalk of Bouquet Canyon Road during the Community Beautification Day in Saugus on Saturday near Central Park. Katherine Quezada/The Signal Sandy, a volunteer, cleans off the leftover dirt from the sidewalk along Bouquet Canyon Road for Community Beautification Day in Saugus on Saturday. Katherine Quezada/The Signal The post Volunteers help beautify Saugus with mulch and more  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.