Volunteers clean up thousands of pounds of trash in the area over Earth Week – NorthcentralPa.com

Earth Week inspires communities to get out and clean up. Multiple litter collection events held around north central Pa. recently helped make the area a little more beautiful in recognition of the annual observance.

Susquehanna Greenway Partnership held their second annual Greenway Cleanup week from April 16-24. Twelve towns organized events that attracted hundreds of volunteers and collectively removed thousands of pounds of trash from area parks, trails, and communities along the Susquehanna River.

Harrisburg, Lock Haven, Williamsport, Newberry, Montgomery, Bloomsburg, Danville, Lewisburg, Selinsgrove, Sunbury, Athens, and Sayre made up the group of river towns with cleanups and programs led by local groups and organizations.

Last year, the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership coordinated the inaugural Susquehanna Greenway Cleanup Week, recruiting six towns to participate in that first year, explains SGP Executive Director Corey Ellison.

This year, we were blown away to see that participation double. We are thrilled with the response of this years twelve towns and commend our partners, River Town Teams, and the many volunteers on a job well done. The united efforts of each individual town go a long way towards the bigger picture of keeping the Susquehanna Greenway clean and beautiful," Ellison said.

The NorthcentralPa.com team on clean-up day. Jerry Frear, Julye Wemple, Carrie Pauling, and Ashley Little helped Susquehanna Greenway Partnership pick up trash along the riverwalk in Williamsport.

In Williamsport, SGP staff and board members were joined by 18 area volunteersincluding those from the West Branch Valley Association of Realtors, NorthcentralPA.com, and Lycoming Collegeto clear the Williamsport River Walk of 434 pounds of trash.

In Newberry, the Newberry Community Partnership led 40 volunteers on a cleanup in the Newberry neighborhood, collecting 165 pounds of trash.

Members of the Lock Haven area clean-up crew.

In Lock Haven, Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. coordinated with the City of Lock Haven and Lock Haven University for a four-day cleanup effort from April 19-22 that attracted 50 volunteers who gathered 793 pounds of trash.

Montgomery Borough gathered a team of 38 volunteers who collected 220 pounds of litter around Montgomery Park.

In Lewisburg, the Lewisburg River Town Team & Lewisburg Neighborhoods cleaned up areas in their downtown district and also led several tree plantings.

In Athens & Sayre, Futurescapes led 18 volunteers on a cleanup along the Diahoga Trail, removing 30 pounds of litter from the trail.

In Bloomsburg, the Town of Bloomsburg recruited 10 volunteers to clean up along the shores of the North Branch that flows alongside Fort McClure Boulevard, collecting 300 pounds of litter.

In Danville, the Montour Area Recreation Commission led cleanups at the Montour Preserve, Hess Recreation Area, and DeLong Park, attracting 81 volunteers who donated 185 hours of their time to collect 52 cubic yards of trash.

In Sunbury, the Susquehanna River Cleanup Project of Sunburys Revitalization, Inc. celebrated its 10th year with 205 volunteers who cleaned up along the shores of Sunburys Riverfront Park, collecting a staggering 9,300 pounds of trash, and still counting as they continue to remove leftover debris that could not be collected on the day of the event.

Susquehanna University students joined SGP on a clean-up day.

In Selinsgrove, SGP joined forces with 10 SU Serve students from Susquehanna University to collect 87 pounds of litter from the streets of Selinsgrove and along Weiser Run.

In Harrisburg, Barry Isett & Associates led a cleanup of Wildwood Park.

Volunteers from the Libertarian Party of Bradford County (LPBC) completed their spring Adopt-a-Highway clean up on a recent Saturday. Members picked up litter along the two mile stretch of Route 187 North from Route 6 in Wysox to Claverack Rd.

Local business owner, Kathy Goodwin of The Hair Mill, invited the group to stage their clean up from her parking lot, near the north end of their clean up area.

I was pleased that we had twice as many volunteers today than last time, said Liz Terwilliger, Chair of the LPBC. Unfortunately, theres a lot of litter here. Having more people helped make the work go more quickly.

Chris Wioskowski, Abigail Fallenstein, Josh Fallenstein, Greg Perry, Liz Terwilliger and Donna Wioskowski (not pictured) was supported by the Adopt-a-Highway program to collect trash.

For organizations cleaning up through the Adopt-a-Highway program, PennDot provides safety training and supplies like gloves, bags, and safety vests, and the volunteers provide the labor.

The Adopt-a-Highway program requires participating organizations to conduct one clean up in the spring and another in the fall. LPBCs next road clean-up will be in September. You do not need to be a member to participate. Interested volunteers can contact Liz at lpofbc@gmail.com.

STEP AmeriCorps also compiled a volunteer team to pick up the Newberry area of Williamsport during a weekend in April, collecting 185 pounds of trash and 65 pounds of recyclables.

Want to make a difference in your community? AmeriCorps is recruiting members atwww.stepcorp.org//AmeriCorps

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Never miss a headline with NorthcentralPa.com newsletters.

Sign Up Today!

Access to independent, local news is important, do you agree?

We work hard to deliver timely, relevant news, for free. 100% of your contribution to NorthcentralPa.com goes directly to helping us cover news and events in the region.

Thank you for saying that local news matters!

Read more here:

Volunteers clean up thousands of pounds of trash in the area over Earth Week - NorthcentralPa.com