It’s part of a “Lewiston Unites” movement to improve the downtown after three large fires left hundreds homeless in April and May.
The Friday cleanup is being organized by the Boys and Girls Club’s Keystone leaders, said Andie Hannon, unit director of the Auburn/Lewiston Clubhouse.
“The youth are going around cleaning up the streets to make our community a lot better,” said Jared Parent, 15, of Auburn, a Keystone leader.
“After the fires happened, we wanted to help our community more,” he said. “We are expecting a lot of people to help out.”
Among the groups helping will be students from Lewiston Middle School.
Parent said he and other teens attended a community meeting on what could be done after the fires. That meeting, held at Longley Elementary School, motivated them to want to do something.
The cleanup will give students “a sense of accomplishment to help out our community,” Parent said.
Lewiston police Chief Michael Bussiere said Friday’s event “sounds like a great project.” It’s a good way, he said, for local youths to have a stake in their community.
As planned, teens will meet at the Nutrition Center on Bates Street and will begin working at 10 a.m., cleaning downtown streets including Ash, Bartlett, Pine and Walnut, as they make their way to Marcotte Park. Several parks also will be cleaned, including Franklin Pasture and Kennedy Park and their surrounding streets, Parent said.
The public is invited to join in as volunteers work in streets and parks.
Participants will gather and celebrate at noon in Marcotte Park near the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“We’re excited about this day,” Shanna Rogers of Community Concepts said. “It showcases youth programming and youth leadership, which there’s a lot of. This relates back to the Longley forum we held. One of the crowd comments was wanting to take pride in the community. I’ve received different contacts from folks planning cleanups.”
While the Boys and Girls Club and Lewiston Middle School students are taking the lead, other groups participating include the LA Collective, which represents AmeriCorps members and Bates College alumni; the Maine Campus Compact; 21st Century Learning Centers at Lewiston High School; Lots to Gardens; Healthy Androscoggin; Lewiston Housing Authority’s Hillview Resource Center; the Lewiston Public Library; and River Valley Village.
Two more community cleanups, one in August and another in September, are planned, Rogers said.
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- Some of the members from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine Auburn/Lewiston Clubhouse are all geared up and looking for more volunteers to come help clean up the streets and parks in Lewiston this Friday. Kneeling in front at Lionel Potvin Park on Cedar Street in Lewiston is Becca Armstrong. Out back from left to right is: Tabitha Charest, Christian O’Brien, Sierra Boclair, Cameron O’Brien, Zach Boyd, Tyler Asselin, Brett Coro and Nathan Lyons.
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