Pitch in and help the Earth

#Middlebury #EarthDay

Kent Sullivan-Wiley picks up litter along the Greenway during a previous Earth Day trash pickup. His wife, Janine, started the cleanup project years ago, when she was a member of the former Middlebury Junior Women’s Club. (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

As they prepare to celebrate Earth Day Sunday, April 22, Middlebury residents will have two ways to help our planet Saturday, April 21. One will be to take their hazardous waste to Shepardson Community Center and dispose of it safely instead of throwing it in the trash (more on that in “Area Earth Day Events,” which will be published here Sunday, April 15). The other will be to get out and pick up litter, either along Middlebury’s Greenway or in an area of their choosing.

This reporter will be out there, rain or shine, on April 21, along with the event’s current sponsors, the Middlebury Parks and Recreation Department and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Bannon and Hebert representatives; event founder Janine Sullivan-Wiley and her loyal helper, Kent Sullivan-Wiley; and long-time volunteer and trash bag hauler, DanaLynn Dowling. Won’t you join us?

The event, properly called the Earth Day Greenway and Park Clean-up, kicks off Saturday, April 21, at 10 a.m. at the Meadowview Park Pavilion at 200 Southford Road in Middlebury. Parks and Recreation Director Betty Proulx will hand out Earth Day volunteer tee shirts, gloves and trash bags. Volunteers then can head out along the Greenway or go to a neighborhood or street of their choice and start bagging up litter. Proulx advises volunteers to wear comfortable shoes and long pants and use sun block if it’s a sunny day.

Dowling will be ready with her pickup truck to help volunteers who can’t get their bagged trash to the transfer station. They can text her or call her at 203-627-9580, and she will go pick up the bags they have tied shut.

Proulx said usually 15 to 20 folks participate in this event. Let’s see if we can’t get more folks out this year and really clean up our town.

Donna Bannon of Better Homes and Gardens said this will be the third year her office has been participating in the event. They got started as a result of a conversation Bannon had with Dowling, who she describes as a real go-getter.

A bowling ball turned out to be the most unusual object picked up during one previous Earth Day cleanup. Perhaps it was thrown out by a frustrated bowler? (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)

Bannon said she walks on the Greenway almost every day and sees a lot of garbage as she walks. “Most days I carry a little plastic bag with me and pick up garbage along my way,” she said. And she said she knows she’s not the only one who picks up trash. She sees other walkers doing the same thing.

Bannon said some of the litter gets left behind after car accidents. She recently picked up a car grill and a hood ornament. And she’s also picked up clothing, children’s toys and lots and lots of empty nip bottles.

She said participating in the pickup is a good family activity. “I’ll be bringing a couple of grandchildren who don’t know they are coming yet. I think it helps develop a sense of community,” she said.

Bannon said she hoped more volunteers would turn out April 21. “Our Greenway is such an asset to our town, it’s nice to make a commitment to taking care of it,” she said.

Dowling said she remembered when Janine Sullivan-Wiley, as a member of the Junior Women’s Club, started the trash pickup something like 15 years ago. “She loved doing this Earth Day event. She is so passionate about it.”

Since she has picked up litter at a number of different locations around town, Dowling probably can suggest an area for anyone who isn’t quite sure where to start.