Citywide 'Green Up' scheduled for Saturday
Apr. 20—PLATTSBURGH — A citywide event will unite organizations, volunteer groups and residents alike this Saturday as they clean up their corner of the Earth.
"The idea is clean up your neighborhood; clean up your street," Green Up Plattsburgh Event Organizer Madeline McGrath told the Press-Republican.
"If we all just do our little sections, our little neighborhoods, then the whole city can be a place that we enjoy."
GREEN UP
The City of Plattsburgh traditionally hosts a clean-up day around Earth Day, held April 22, each year and has recurring participants.
McGrath, 28, said many volunteer groups and organizations were already planning clean up efforts long before the 2021 event was launched.
COVID concerns and public safety in mind, Green Up Plattsburgh was designed as a more socially-distanced affair with a heavy focus on neighborhood beautification. City residents are encouraged to pick up trash, remove sidewalk overgrowth and even plant flowers or trees.
McGrath partnered with city staff to somewhat marshal the day's volunteers, posting to her Facebook blog "Plattsburgh is cute" to spread news of parks and other community spaces that participants have volunteered to "Green Up."
"I'm hopeful that on the day of the event they'll actually go out and do it," she said.
Community members can register as participants and post photos online this Saturday for the opportunity to win prizes.
LONGTIME VOLUNTEER
McGrath is a Chazy native, SUNY Plattsburgh alum and longtime volunteer. She returned home to the greater Plattsburgh region during the pandemic after serving as a Peace Corps member.
"I like to get involved with things in the community," she said. "I always have; I don't know when it really started."
She remembered tagging along to such events as a kid with mom Karen Plotas-McGrath and grandmother Julie O'Connor.
"As I got older, I started realizing that you can plan these events and you can do these things."
'NICE TO LIVE IN'
McGrath wasn't sure where she would be stationed this weekend, likely bouncing from location to location, but said, overall, she just wants her community "to be nice to live in."
"You paint the walls in your house, because you like the color blue," she said. "Well, I want to walk around city streets and see no trash. I don't want to go to the City Beach to see trash.
"So, someone needs to pick it up."
The volunteer was sad to see garbage littered around area schools and nursing facilities, as well.
"I feel like the kids and the elderly are subjected to this without as much of an opportunity to do something about it," McGrath said. "It's also about providing this to people who need that support."
TO REGISTER
Residents can register for the event here, https://tinyurl.com/35nccbrv
Its hashtag is: #PLATTSBURGHGREENUP2021
In addition to prizes, McGrath said community group Chapters for Change will hand out free children's books near City Hall.
Many other organizations were either signed up to participate, including the Adirondack Young Professionals, or had their own events already in the works, like the United Way for the Adirondack Region's Day of Caring.
More information is available online, https://tinyurl.com/2vbdr2v3
Email McKenzie Delisle:
Twitter: @McKenzieDelisle
