Helping clean my local town has been incredibly rewarding…

I am so fortunate to live in a town that has a beautification program. Keep Mansfield Beautiful, a local chapter of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, has an adopt-a-street program, where one can volunteer themselves to be the designated street cleaner.

I chose the street at my current address, which unfortunately can become littered with trash due to the heavy foot-traffic of the area. I walk up and down the street with my “trash-grabbers” (provided when you officially join Keep Mansfield Beautiful’s adopt-a-street program) every day to try and catch as much trash as I can.

There is a serene little pond near my home, with adorable ducks and a variety of other wildlife. It’s really quite lovely around sunset. I walk down there and a few surrounding streets as well to try and expand the impact of my efforts.

Many people enjoy the park, and while it is a great community focal point, it unfortunately accumulates lots of small pieces of garbage which is harmful to the flora and fauna of the area.

What is great is that anyone in Mansfield can join their Adopt-A-Street program. What’s even better… anyone can donate their time to help tidy up their neighborhoods! All it takes is some time, even if it’s just a few minutes (and also made better with “trash grabbers” :) ). The world will be made better with your included efforts!

~Caroline Cooney, MWAM 2023