A group of employees from Agusta-Westland joined members of Boy Scout Troop and Cub Scout Pack 252 and individual volunteers as the Friends of Pennypack Park conducted their annual Earth Day park cleanup on April 26.
Sixty-one volunteers contributed 139 hours to beautify park ground.
They removed 31 bags of trash from the park, along with three bags of aluminum cans and an assortment of individual items. The odds and ends included a red comforter, a folding closet door, two aerosol cans, a kitchen knife, a pocketbook, Mardi Gras beads, a car radiator bracket, part of a car jack, a soccer ball, a basketball, a softball, a Ricky Martin CD, part of the base to a traffic light, part of a police barricade, an orange and white sawbuck, a 23-liter bucket and an eight-foot-long folding table.
Volunteers had lots of support from businesses and agencies including ShopRite, the Community Life Improvement Program, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the 8th and 15th Police Districts. Further, FOPP volunteer Roland Williams performed extra service by designing the organization’s Earth Day button with a depiction of a raven. Each year, Williams designs a new button featuring a different bird.
The Friends group hosts cleanups one Saturday every month from March through November. The next one will be on May 24 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers will meet at the Sandy Run park entrance near Ryan Avenue and Sandyford Road next to Austin Meehan Middle School. Participants should wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. The events are great opportunities to perform community service. In case of bad weather, call 215–934-PARK or email to FOPPMonthlyCO@aol.com for cancellation information. ••
