| August 3, 2020 -- Connecticut Granges are finding ways to social distance, remain safe and clean up the streets, beaches, parks and community areas of our usually beautiful state. At this time of year hosting a cleanup is a great way to get involved in our community, and a great way to get your community involved in Grange activities.
Hosting a cleanup can feel pretty daunting, but I’m hoping I can break it down into a few simple steps to get you ready to organize by setting you up with the supplies you need and marketing to increase community participation.
To begin: Where in your community is clean-up most needed? What day would be best to schedule that clean-up for the largest percent of your Grange volunteers? September and October are good because of weather being cooler and it gives us time to gather volunteers. If you choose a weekend day you may have the best day to for availability amongst your community
You are not arranging this alone. You have a partner, the Membership Committee, to help you with supplies like pickers, gloves, trash bags and masks. We will also work with the volunteers as a contact person and help to arrange with whatever entity may need to be contacted or arrangements made to get the job done.
We can contact the public works department. The public works department typically handles illegal dumping which is tied to cleaning up. They can sometimes point us in the right direction of where to go to rent or borrow things like pickers and gloves. Also, let’s find out who our local volunteer groups are so I can request their assistance. You might find there’s a group who specializes in cleaning up we can partner with.
We will need to know where the trash is going and arrange who is going to pick it up and take it and where they will take it. If you don’t already know I will contact your local waste management facility. Usually pick-up can be arranged for free.
We will also want to consider where there may be bathrooms. If you’re cleaning up a park or a beach, there’s probably public bathrooms available, but we need to check if they are open during these times. This piece is not critical but helpful in our planning.
Lastly, something to consider is should we offer refreshments?
These Grangers and Community Volunteers came all the way to help you with your clean-up. It’d be really nice to have something to offer them
as snacks. Something they can take with them or if there is a space at the park where everyone can eat and stay distant. It also goes a long way in helping to recruit people coming to your clean-up. If you have any bakers at your Grange this is a nice way to include them
in the event.
Once you’ve made your decisions and you are ready for me to get started please call or email me with the following details:
- What Grange or Granges are involved?
- Where’s do you plan to clean- up?
- What day and time?
- Rain or shine?
- In what town is the clean-up located?
- At this moment do you know how many at your Grange are willing to help?
We can definitely discuss how to attach a fundraiser to this event as many Granges have a need to raise money as well as continue their Grange work in these unprecedented days. I ask you to kindly email me at Membership@CTStateGrange.org or call/ text me at 518-698-2785. |
