Volunteers fanned out across town yesterday for the third annual fall cleanup, coordinated by the Riverhead Litter Committee.
Committee chairperson Deborah Wetzel, who was at Town Hall early yesterday morning to distribute trash bags, pickers, gloves and safety vests, estimated that about 100 volunteers were participating in the event, with some Riverhead High School groups, including the AP Spanish class, getting a jump start on the cleanup Friday afternoon.
Riverhead High School girls soccer team members were working to clean up Grangebel Park yesterday, while Riverhead High School Key Club members were cleaning up the beaches at Roanoke Landing and Reeves Park, supervised by Key Club Advisor Garrett Moore and Riverhead High School English teacher Alana Philcox.
Wetzel has overseen the reinvigoration of the anti-litter effort in the Riverhead community since her appointment to the committee several years ago.
Jim Meineke served on the litter committee for several years beginning in 2004. Then the activity of the committee dwindled. It was active until about 2012, he said. After Wetzel “picked it up about three or four years ago,” he said, he got involved again. “I bring some tribal knowledge,” he said, with a laugh.
Educating children about litter is most important,” Meineke said. “I always said, you’re not born a pig.” He said raising awareness among children in turn educates their parents as well.
A persistent problem in Riverhead is “all the transient traffic” that comes through town, Meineke said.
“We have a list of about 40 streets that have to be cleaned up, plus the beaches and parks,” Wetzel said.
The committee, comprising about 12 members, has begun reaching out to local businesses, Wetzel said, talking with over 150 businesses this year about keeping their properties cleaned up. Some businesses have begun participating in the cleanup, too, Wetzel said.
Riverhead Council Member Bob Kern, the Town Board liaison to the committee, was on hand at Town Hall to help with distributing supplies to volunteers. He also drove a pickup truck around town yesterday to retrieve bags filled with litter by volunteers.
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