Very pg 1 5-5-22
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caption:
Cleanup
More than 200 volunteers beautified Putnam April 30. Linda Lemmon photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The day sparkled and after Beautification Day finished, so did the entire town.
The annual event drew more than 225 volunteers including businesses, nonprofits, organizations, schools, individual and families, according to Delpha Very, director of Economic and Community Development. She added that even police Chief Christopher Ferace and his grandson picked up litter.
Prizes: Centreville Bank for Most Unusual Item (boat parts);
Best Before and After went to NorthStar Home Loans. Very said: “NorthStar Loans and family worked with Northeast Flooring and others in cleaning up the Riverfront Commons area behind the stores. I told them this would be a really tough area and they ended up cleaning up the entire area; it was truly amazing. I had checked out that area days before and vowed I would never make anyone tackle that and…they did!”
Most Spirit went to Putnam Science Academy. That team consisted of 60 students, faculty, coaches and administrators. They helped not only with trash pickup but also helped the Day Kimball Healthcare Woman’s Board spruce up the Dr. Grinsell pocket park on Providence Street. “It was very, very good,” said Gabe Sacconi, a member of the boys’ soccer team. “It was a beautiful day and we were all together, and everybody was having fun, and laughing. We helped a couple of women from the hospital, we cleaned a garden, and we cleaned up trash. It was a good opportunity for us to do it and learn how we can help make things better.” Said Alissa Lynch, PSA’s assistant head of school for Student Services: “It was great to see people out there as a community to help clean up and we were glad to be part of that. And we were certainly honored to win the Most Spirited Award. We can’t wait to do this again.”
The bane of the annual effort is nips. Thousands and thousands of nip bottles litter Putnam. Very said: “We didn’t count Nips because it is just a frustrating task. The State passed legislation last year that instead of assigning a $.05 return on each nip, they would reimburse the towns every six months for that same amount paid by the distributor. Putnam received its first check in April of over $18,000 to be used for litter control, clean up and such specific tasks. That comes out to an average of approximately 2,000 nips sold/day in Putnam. But to be fair, we are an epicenter for shopping for other communities.”
Very said a record number of volunteers came out last year, a reprieve from COVID. She said they weren’t sure what the turnout would be April 30 but “it was amazing with over 225 community members wanting to gather and make an aesthetic difference in our town. These volunteers are to be truly celebrated as they gave up their time to volunteer on a beautiful spring day. As I drove around the streets later in the day checking on collection areas, you could see that their efforts made a significant difference.”
“We are a community of care. We have strong partnerships between the Town of Putnam, the PBA and the people of Putnam. Because of this, events like Putnam’s Beautification Day are another community success story of achievement,” Very added.
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