GREENFIELD — A group of volunteers cleaned up Patriot Park last Saturday as part of Greenfield Parks and Recreation Committee’s Earth Day Park Cleanup.
An estimated 50 volunteers showed up through the course of the three-hour cleanup on April 17, with 20 of those being children who helped during the early portions before heading to the play areas.
Gloves and trash bags were provided to volunteers and a total of almost 20 bags of trash were picked up in the expansive park.
As a reward for the youth who helped with the efforts, a Public Works employee sponsored free ice cream and snacks.
The Earth Day cleanups have been a yearly event, but had to go on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning the last Earth Day cleanup in Greenfield was 2019. Earth Day is celebrated nationally on April 22 each year.
With the easing of restrictions and the committee’s own return to having meetings, members decided Earth Day would be the time to kick off the park cleanups, especially in consideration of having regular park cleanups around town.
“This is the largest park in this city and we wanted to bring awareness to our community,” said Monica Aguilar, committee chair for the Parks and Recreation Committee.
Aguilar said the event was not only a lesson in environmental responsibility for residents and youth, but also a chance to get back outside and get active and bond with community members. The committee is a board of volunteers who serve in an advisory capacity for the city council.
“We volunteer our time to promote parks and recreation issues, ideas and concerns,” Aguilar said.
In the future, she said the committee is considering the idea of an Adopt a Park program, which would include planning regular cleanups of all the city’s parks, as often as every month or possibly a few times throughout the year.
