Hundreds of people gathered on a sunny, 70-degree morning to take part in the 12th annual Great American Clean-Up event on May 3.
Sponsored each year by Keep North Attleborough Beautiful, this event looks to spark community spirit, beautify the town and highlight the importance of taking pride in where you live.
Supplies and matching maroon t-shirts were handed out to residents prior to the event, and groups lined the streets of North Attleborough to pick up trash that has accumulated since last year’s cleanup. Groups cleaned up between 9 a.m. and noon.
A large group of about 20 people were gathering litter along Park Street, representing North Attleborough’s Cub Scouts Pack 12. Susan LaFratta, a Scout leader and parent with the group, said the Scouts take part in the cleanup each year as way to fulfill their community service hours, calling it a way to “give back to the community.”
Kensei Lewis and his father Michael Lewis were also cleaning up with Pack 12 and said this event is something they look forward to each year. Michael Lewis spoke of the importance of teaching his children about community service and the satisfaction that comes with keeping one’s hometown pristine.
“I’ve done this for years, probably about 10 years because I have another son who is in Boy Scouts,” said Michael Lewis. “It’s amazing how much trash these kids collect, and the kind of things you find is a little disappointing, but I feel like it’s good for kids and I feel like everyone should be out doing this.”
Kensei Lewis brought a bit of childhood curiosity to the event, likening it to a treasurer hunt.
“I was excited to do it because it’s fun to find all of these things to throw away,” said Kensei Lewis. “But it makes me feel a little sad that people don’t throw it away in a trash can.”
Troop 23 of North Attleborough walked along Broadway, cleaning up discarded cigarettes in front of a residence on the corner of Broadway and High Street. At last count, they were at 184 cigarettes collected in the area.
Kristen Connolly has participated in the event over the years with her family, but joined in with her son and the rest of his Scouting group this year.
“I want them to take pride in where they live and their community and know that you can’t have nice things if you don’t work for nice things,” said Connolly.
Jackie O’Brien was also in the High Street area and said she has participated in cleanup events before in Attleboro, where she’s a part of the Bristol-Norfolk Medical Reserve Corps. In partnership with the Greater Attleboro Women of Today, O’Brien and and her fellow group members were spread out across town to assist in cleanup efforts. O’Brien said she was happy to help out a neighboring town.
“It’s important to keep the environment clean and not only that, it’s important for the community to work together to help out with everything,” said O’Brien. “So many different areas need as much help as possible right now; this is such a small part and everybody doing a little bit goes a long way.”
Once volunteers had filled their trash bags and finished their three hours of litter removal, they were invited to a pizza party in the North Attleborough High School cafeteria. Refreshments were provided, and raffles were open to help raise money for the cause.
Marsha Goldstein, a board member of KNAB and founder of the cleanup, said watching the families turn out and enjoy the day is her favorite part of the event that she’s watched grow over the past 13 years. Goldstein said over 500 people registered this year, and the nice weather certainly helped with getting community members out and about.
“People are very dedicated, and we’re lucky to get the DPW drivers who pick up the bags and supply more bags for anyone who might need them. We couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” said Goldstein. “We would love to have more people take pride in their town and do their part.”
Goldstein has stepped back in her role after running the event as a one-woman-show for so many years, but gave credit to the board who came together this year and put it all together. Diane Hermenau met Goldstein at the gym years ago and has been helping out ever since, bringing with her a background in fundraising for the Pan Mass Challenge. This year, she stepped into the role of cleanup coordinator and was impressed with how smoothly everything ran.
“Being fairly new to the whole organization, I was very impressed with the town’s support and the players that are involved,” said Hermenau. “Getting the town manager to say yes to the date and allowing use of the Town Hall to distribute the supplies, the DPW to line up the drivers, Solid Waste to line up the trucks. . .there’s a lot more behind the scenes than I knew of.”
In addition to the Great American Clean-Up, KNAB keeps busy with various other beautification projects around town, such as maintaining areas at the elementary schools, Mason Field, Town Hall, the fish hatchery and Martin Conservation Recreation Area, just to name a few. More information on upcoming projects and how to volunteer can be found on keepnabeautiful.com.