Litterers stepped up their game in Pennypack Park last summer, but so did volunteers from the park’s friends group on Oct. 26 when they cleaned up the Sandy Run section of the park.
In three hours of work, about 40 volunteers filled 77 trash bags with collected debris, as well as five bags of aluminum cans and various large items. That’s twice as much junk that the same group removed from the same area of the park just four months earlier.
The Friends of Pennypack Park crew cleaned along portions of Sandyford Road, Lexington Avenue, the Austin Meehan Middle School grounds, the park dirt path leading to Upper Rhawn Street Bridge and the Abraham Lincoln High School stadium.
Workers from the Community Life Improvement Program hauled the bags to a sanitation facility, while Park Rangers Georgia Kolbus and Serena Chiles also lent a hand.
In addition to a large contingent of adult volunteers from the community, students from Father Judge, St. Hubert’s, New Foundations Charter and St. Matthew’s helped out.
Among the hazardous or unusual items pulled from the park were a container of brake fluid, a fire extinguisher, an unknown automotive fluid in a white jug, shopping carts, part of a snow shovel, 18 unopened beers, patio furniture, several bags of used flooring tiles, lawn furniture, a barbecue grill, five auto tires, several towels, a blanket, a toaster, a broken umbrella, a Rubbermaid tote box, two buckets, a cable box, a cell phone, DVDs, a rubber duckie, various items of clothing, ear buds, a pocketbook, skin lotion, a cologne bottle, mouthwash, women’s makeup, a lei, various sports balls, a broken fishing pole, a bicycle, a car hood in the creek, car parts, school furniture, personal identification cards, an empty cash register drawer and a SpongeBob Halloween mask.
The final monthly cleanup of 2013 will be on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Volunteers will meet at Rhawn Street and Lexington Avenue. In case of bad weather, call 215–934-PARK for information. ••
