Community Clean up Day Was a Wet Success

The Springfield Environmental Commission would like to thank all the Springfield Residents  and the Department of Public Works for their help on Clean Communities Day on Sunday, April 22. It was not an ideal day to be outside in the pouring rain cleaning up the community, but the results were inspiring.   

Many of the volunteers were flood victims of Tropical Storm Irene and knew first hand how important it is to keep the areas surrounding the waterways clear of garbage and debris.   The two dedicated cleaning groups braved the rain and gathered "mountains of debris" at Laurel Park and at Marion Avenue Park. The "mountains of debris" will be collected and properly disposed of by the DPW.

The group at the Marion Ave. Park, including Harry and his dogs Gem and Miracle, spent several hours gathering cans, plastic bags, plastic bottles, a set of tires, a ladder, basketballs, a refrigerator, and a bicycle. To the delight of the children who were helping, three very young kittens were discovered. The kittens were taken in temporarily by the family of Shane Ronan—who is allergic to cats.  The first volunteer at Marion was Bonnie who arrived promptly at noon and was one of the last to leave. Other volunteers, including Township Clerk Linda Donnelly and her grandson Johnny, Karen and Jim Bonacorda of Water Everywhere, Hortense Dias, and many others, braved the rain, became soaked to the skin and had hot cocoa and munchkins before going home to dry out.  

Meanwhile over at Laurel park, Allison Miller, Faith Racusin and Kaylin Mahoney of the Environmental Commission and 27 other volunteers also collected bags and bags of trash including part of a car. Some the volunteers at Laurel Park are students at Florence Gaudineer who will get community service credit for their participation. 

This was the best Clean Community Day participation in the last seven years! Thank you one and all for a dirty job well done.