On Saturday, May 12, the Marion Trees and Parks Committee held the annual Marion Town Clean-Up. Residents met Music Hall, donned their “safety green” vests or neon pink t-shirts, and dispersed around town, picking up garbage and recyclable materials from the roadsides.
“We’ve been doing this for 15 years,” said Tinker Saltonstall, who is on the Trees and Parks Committee. “It’s really wonderful. So many people in town sponsor the clean-up every year. This time around, we managed to get child-sized safety vests for the younger ones who want to help,” she said.
Resident Jay Pateakos, who helps run Cub Scout Pack 32, encouraged his scouts to take part in the clean-up in order to accrue hours to earn their environmental merit badge.
“It’s important to see what litter does to a small town and I hope that they can get good habits out of it,” he said.
Students from Tabor Academy also jumped in to help. Out on Point Road near Route 6, sophomores Nate Shapiro and Stephen Hall joined some of their classmates in the effort.
“I feel like it’s a good thing to do, to build a strong community,” said Shapiro, who is from Bolton, Mass.
“I don’t get why people throw trash out onto the road. I’d never do that,” said Hall, a Sandwich native.
The Clean-Up was co-sponsored by the Gifts to Give organization, which collected donations of clothes, shoes, toys, and books, to be distributed to needy families around the South Coast.
By Eric Tripoli
