Diane
It was a cold and dreary morning. The organizers began to worry that people would rather stay in their warm homes and breathed a collective sigh of relief when volunteers began arriving right on time and eventually numbered 99 hearty folks. Some wore winter hats and coats. Most had gloves to protect them from the cold and from the icky stuff they might find. All wore smiles behind their masks.*
The idea all started with new Grantham Garden Club member Diane Bilotta. She spoke at a GGC Steering Club Zoom meeting and presented the idea of running a town wide clean up based on her years of experience with an annual clean up in Conway as part of the Mt. Washington Valley pride day. Even better, Diane said she would help organize it. The club quickly moved into action. Maryellen DeJong and Janie Clark joined Diane as coordinators.
Diane learned best practices from the Conway group and made the event fun for the volunteers. Diane and Maryellen wore wacky sponge hats and bright aprons in keeping with the clean up-theme. Volunteers were given a prize coupon which also asked them for the most unusual items found and the most frequent.
In three short hours, 156 bags of trash were collected. The volunteers reported that Bud light was the hands down favorite of litter bugs. Among the unusual finds were a Tulsi Gabbard for President campaign sign, a 5 Finger Death Punch CD, one shoe, a nerf bullet, and a pickled sausage wrapper. A team soccer picture was also found which must have been lost by mistake, unlike most of the junk that was sadly tossed from cars and walkways on purpose. I suspect those thoughtless people never volunteered in a clean up day when they were young.
The 99 volunteers on our May 1st cleanup were all ages with many children lending their little hands. Their grown ups are teaching them well.
At noon, blue skies appeared and the warm sun shone brightly on our beautifully clean village of Grantham.
The idea all started with new Grantham Garden Club member Diane Bilotta. She spoke at a GGC Steering Club Zoom meeting and presented the idea of running a town wide clean up based on her years of experience with an annual clean up in Conway as part of the Mt. Washington Valley pride day. Even better, Diane said she would help organize it. The club quickly moved into action. Maryellen DeJong and Janie Clark joined Diane as coordinators.
Diane learned best practices from the Conway group and made the event fun for the volunteers. Diane and Maryellen wore wacky sponge hats and bright aprons in keeping with the clean up-theme. Volunteers were given a prize coupon which also asked them for the most unusual items found and the most frequent.
In three short hours, 156 bags of trash were collected. The volunteers reported that Bud light was the hands down favorite of litter bugs. Among the unusual finds were a Tulsi Gabbard for President campaign sign, a 5 Finger Death Punch CD, one shoe, a nerf bullet, and a pickled sausage wrapper. A team soccer picture was also found which must have been lost by mistake, unlike most of the junk that was sadly tossed from cars and walkways on purpose. I suspect those thoughtless people never volunteered in a clean up day when they were young.
The 99 volunteers on our May 1st cleanup were all ages with many children lending their little hands. Their grown ups are teaching them well.
At noon, blue skies appeared and the warm sun shone brightly on our beautifully clean village of Grantham.
Organizers Maryellen DeJong, Janie Clark and Diane Bilotto
3-year old Eleanor pitches in
Mark and Elise Kendall with the most unusual find
Terrific team of Boy Scouts
Carole and David Wood on Rte. 10
Sue Coakley searches the ground for trash instead of her usual hunt for wildflowers