Volunteers 'KLEAN' up on Earth Day

LANCASTER- Last Sunday, about 100 volunteers joined the efforts of the group “Keeping Lancaster’s Environment Active Naturally” (KLEAN) by filling several garbage bags with trash, which at the end of the day were “too numerous to count,” according to Village of Lancaster Trustee Edward M. Marki.

Volunteers spent close to four hours cleaning up trash and litter in the village on Earth Day. The event brought out many residents and students from Lancaster High School, including the school’s football team, along with Athletic Director Brian Wild and Varsity Football Coach Len Jankiewicz. Also, there were volunteers from St. Elizabeth’s Home and the Lancaster-Depew Boys and Girls Club that came out to lend a hand.

“This went beyond our expectations,” said Marki. “We actually ran out of bags and we ran out of gloves. I mean of all the things we want to run out of, however, we didn’t run out of T-shirts and hotdogs.”

Volunteers cleaned up the Central Avenue Business District, around the Lancaster Towers, Firemen’s Park, Keysa’s Park, sections of Aurora Street, Broadway, Holland and Pleasant avenues. Some volunteers even went all the way down to Laverack Avenue, as well as the industrial park, Commerce Parkway, to clean up.

“We’re not done. We’ve just started,” remarked Marki. “The more momentum we gain, the more people that see us, the more excited we become about doing this again. We plan on doing this again coming this fall, either in August or September.”

Village of Lancaster resident Frank Maddock, who started the KLEAN initiative, said the event was a success, but the only problem was is that no one cleaned up his end of Central Avenue, in which he laughed and remarked he would take care of it.

“The good part of it was there were a lot of young people involved and it is important to keep them involved in the community,” commented Maddock. “Maybe next year we can enjoy Earth Day rather than work on Earth Day.”

Marki added the event did in fact help clean up the trash and litter in the community, but agreed with Maddock, saying it did send a message to the youth in the community.

“I believe that message was heard loud and clear,” commented Marki.

The main sponsors of program were KeyBank, Petals to Please, Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Creative Job Solutions, Technet Task Group, The Lancaster Area Chamber, Village of Lancaster Citizens’ Party, the Moose Lodge, the village, Aurora Imprints, and the Lancaster YMCA.

“I just want to thank all the businesses, there were a number of them, including KeyBank which just came to our community,” said Marki. “Even local businesses that didn’t have a chance to become an official sponsor such as, the Broadway Deli provided us coffee. It is an example of what this community is about.”

In addition, the electronic and scrap metal recycling drive that was held during the event was a triumph too.