Youngsters take lead in cleanup – See Video Inside

BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

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Youngsters take lead in cleanup
Despite the threat of rain overhead, a group of dedicated young community-minded helpers worked along Route 520 near Wyncrest Road in Marlboro to pick up debris along the road on Feb. 27.

Youngsters in Marlboro turned out on a gloomy Feb. 27 to conduct a litter cleanup along Route 520. John Ciprianni, 6, (r), found a hubcap that was fouling Marlboro’s environment.

Sarah Ricci, 9, and Mikayla Berk, 9, organized the event with the help of their parents. The girls attended the Township Council’s Feb. 19 meeting to speak out during the Citizens Voice portion of the meeting in the hope of gaining more volunteers. The girls said they were tired of seeing litter on Marlboro’s roads and thought it was time to take action.

"We should help our community out more and participate in doing something that can really help," Sarah said.

"I think we should do this because a lot of people are littering and not taking care of the community," Mikayla added.

The girls told their classmates what they wanted to do and made fliers to announce the project, according to Wendy Berk, Mikayla’s mother.

PHOTOS BY REBECCA MORTON

On Feb. 27, 30 children and their parents turned out on a gloomy day to help clean up the streets. Berk said it was great that so many children wanted to take part in helping so many children wanted to take part to keep Marlboro clean.

Wearing plastic gloves and toting garbage bags, the participants crossed to the wooded section of Route 520 across from the library and worked their way down Route 520 in the direction of the Marlboro Middle School.

Two Marlboro police officers helped the group across the busy intersection of Wyncrest Road and Route 520. The officers then watched the youngsters to make sure they did not get to close to the road while they were picking up trash.

John Cipriani, 6, filled his bag pretty fast after finding a hubcap. Not long after discovering the hubcap, John made another auto discovery, finding a portion of a vehicle’s bumper. Since the bumper was too large for his trash bag one of the parent volunteers carried the piece for the youngster.

Sisters Danielle and Samantha Spano were among the crowd of children pitching in to make their hometown a cleaner place.

Danielle, 9, said she was having fun and proudly displayed her overflowing bag of trash, which showed the hard work the youngsters were putting into the project.

"I want to help

clean up the world," Samantha, 7, said of why she was participating.

When everyone’s bag was bulging with litter it was time to cross back and end the event. After their cleanup efforts, the volunteers were invited to have a snack and to warm up with some hot chocolate. With the exception of a few drops, the rain held off until the work was done.

Mikayla and Sarah said they were happy with the turnout for their big day. They girls said they want to organize more cleanups in the future and said they hope to get more people to come out and help them clean up Marlboro.