Community Comes Together to Make 'WO Clean'

Spring is a great time to get out and do some cleaning – especially this year with all the debris the winter’s snowfall left behind. Both Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrate our town’s precious natural resources in late April, so the West Orange Public Relations Commission (PRC) considered it the perfect time to initiate our first annual town-wide clean-up day.

Dubbed “WO Clean,” the event took place last Sunday, April 27, with close to 100 volunteers coming together to help West Orange shine a little brighter. Nine “clean teams” assembled behind Town Hall and then dispersed to different locations around town to pick up trash and recyclables.

After two hours, dozens of bags of debris had been collected. The sidewalks, bus stops, tree lawns and municipal parking lots looked a lot cleaner. And local residents and business owners noticed, sharing words and gestures of thanks to the volunteer teams.

The idea for “WO Clean” came out of a brainstorming session at a PRC meeting last fall. The commission’s objective is to generate positive publicity about the town. We agreed that a town-wide clean-up day would be a great way to help raise awareness of the benefits of a litter-free West Orange and to bring people of all ages together in service to our community.

We teamed with NJ Clean Communities through our local project manager Nick Salese of the township Department of Public Works. Nick was a great help with the logistics of staging the clean-up event, which included choosing the clean-up sites, providing supplies, instructions and trash pick-up – as well as funding the cost of t-shirts and refreshments.

Participation of the Scout groups in town was the foundation of our volunteer efforts. After getting commitments from several troops and packs, we reached out to the community-at-large through the township communications channels. Social media proved to be most effective, with more than 50 residents indicating their desire to participate either through Facebook or our on-line registration.

The weather forecast for the day couldn’t have been better. However, just before volunteers started pulling into the Town Hall lot around 1 pm, the wind picked up and puffy white clouds crowded out the sunshine. And characteristic of first-time events, the process of checking-in, getting supplies and finding one’s “Clean Team” leader was a bit chaotic.

As the PRC commissioner designated for both check-in and leader of “Clean Team 3,” I had my hands full! But arriving volunteers were very understanding, and my husband helped by assuming my team leader duties during check-in. All teams were assembled, outfitted and ready to tackle their locations after some final instructions and a group photo shortly before 1:30.

Teams were assigned to areas in the Valley business district, all along Main Street, and at locations on Northfield and Prospect Avenues and Pleasant Valley Way.

Team 3 was responsible for Main Street from the Llewellyn Park entrance to the Edison National Historic Site at Lakeside Avenue, then behind the Edison Battery Factory redevelopment site. Our team comprised Girl Scouts Star and Brianna and their mothers, my husband and sons, Jodie and her two children, and Raymond.

Equipped with multiple pairs of disposable gloves, large black trash bags and a couple of bottles of water each, team members worked our way north along Main Street. We bent to pick up fast food containers, beverage bottles and food wrappers -- and plenty of stuff that shouldn’t be there. One volunteer stooped under a bus shelter bench to nab some paper and a wad of duct tape, while others reached through chain-link fences to grab litter blown up against the other side. We found the most debris near a local pub and along Ashland Avenue behind the Edison site. Everyone was amazed by the number of cigarette butts that littered all parts of our clean-up route.

The sun broke through while we were still heading up Main Street, prompting team members to peel off jackets and sweatshirts so the NJ Clean Communities “Slam Dunk the Junk” t-shirts could be seen by all passers-by. Several residents stopped and thanked us for our efforts.

Back at Town Hall at 3 pm, we dropped off our haul of trash and recyclables. We then headed inside for a pizza party in Council Chambers. There we had the chance to share experiences with volunteers of other teams and get ideas about how to make the event even better next year. I really enjoyed the community service and spirit -- and wasn’t too sore the next day. Hopefully, other participants felt the same way, and they’ll be looking forward to the next “WO Clean.” I couldn’t believe how much fun we had wading through so much trash. I hope we all came out of this appreciating even more the importance of not littering – and I hope you do, too.

A special shout out to the members, leaders, parents and siblings of Girl Scout Troops 20039, 20274 & 20723; Boy Scout Troops 6 & 118; and Cub Scout Packs 10 & 54 – we couldn’t have done this without you! Also, thank you to Megan Brill, executive director of the West Orange Downtown Alliance, for help with determining the clean-up sites and recruiting volunteers, Moses Scott Associates: Right at Home of Essex County for the donation of disposable gloves, and to Jessica Glicker and Perry Bashkoff for the great marketing job.

The West Orange Public Relations Commission is headed by Chairman Prakash Khaitan and Vice-chair Josie Velez and includes Robin Guarino, Debra Mapson, Jonathan Ridley, Patrecia West, Sandra Mordecai, Moses Scott and Nicki Morris. We meet the second Thursday of the month in Town Hall Conference Room 109, and volunteers are always welcome.

Clare Silvestri Krakoviak is a member of the West Orange Public Relations Commission.