Clean-Up Report

One of the beneficial things life provides is ample opportunity for do-gooders to do well.

This morning, for example, I was one of about seventy volunteers dispatched to all the corners of Westbrook (clean-up sites included Beaver Pond, City Hall, Main Street, Prides Corner School, the Lincoln Street skating rink, the Riverwalk, the Rochester Street railroad tracks, the skatepark, the Sappi snow dump, Saccarappa Cemetery, the Stroudwater Street ice rink, Wescott Junior High School, Westbrook Commons, Westbrook High School, and William Clarke Drive) to pick up litter. And anyone who participated would affirm the opportunity (read: trash) was plentiful.

According to the clean-up coordinator, Joyce Perrey, Westbrook churches such as the First Baptist Church in Westbrook, Pride's Corner Congregational Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, The Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Greater Portland, and Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church supplied much of the manpower. But eight Key Clubbers (7 from Westbrook High School, 1 from, ahem, Cheverus) and an assortment of unaffiliated Westbrook residents (such as myself) also showed up to join the effort.

Also, the City of Westbrook Department of Public Services provided the tools of the trade, while local businesses (Full Court Press, Hannaford, and Home Depot) lent their support, both financially and materially.

And, finally, all the bottles and cans retrieved throughout the clean-up were en route to the 302 Redemption Center, with the proceeds of the returns designated for the Westbrook Food Pantry.

- John C.L. Morgan