PORTLAND, Maine —
To celebrate Earth Day this year, The Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization (MHNO) and Portland Parks and Recreation invited anyone to join them as they cleaned the trails around the Eastern Promenade. To promote social distancing, they asked volunteers to join them in waves throughout the afternoon, and after the first wave, they had enough trash to fill the back of a truck.
“We’ve collected quite a bit of garbage already so yeah it’s feeling like a success,” Clare Lavergne, a board member of MHNO, said soon before the second wave of volunteers arrived.
“This is a really nice change of pace," said Timothy Stephenson, Supervising Park Ranger for Portland Parks and Recreation & Facilities.
"Actually having individuals come out and help us do this. My crew is just myself and one other year-round so being able to tackle the trash and kind of keep up with the parks to make sure everyone can enjoy it is really hard just the two of us, so we always enjoy it when groups come out and help us out.”