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Date: 4/25/2022
LUDLOW – In an effort to clean up parts of town, Ludlow is hosting its first-ever community cleanup day on May 7.
Veterans Agent Eric Segundo said the town partnered with Veterans Services because May 7 is also the VFW’s National Day of Service.
“It actually started with Selectman [Derek] DeBarge; it was his idea to host a town-wide cleanup. Veterans Services and the VFW got involved because on a national level, the VFW is having a VFW day of service across the country,” he said. “This was the perfect opportunity for the veterans and the VFW to partner with the town and be part of the town-wide cleanup event.”
DeBarge said cleaning up Ludlow is going to take a full community effort.
“If you drive what we call the triangle from Center to East to Chapin back to Center, it’s deplorable, it’s awful to look at. That’s not what our community is. We have to get better at that and that means as a government and as individuals too,” he said.
He added that there have been smaller town cleanup projects in the past that have failed to generate more traction in the community.
“A lot of us have been involved with trying to clean up the town, if it’s just weeding around the sidewalks on East Street, we’ve done that. The Boys and Girl Scouts have done some of our flower boxes and trying to weed out the trees that we have up East Street, but it seems like we’re not getting caught up,” DeBarge said.
While some groups have already formed and have their assigned locations, Segundo said anyone is welcome to meet and help cleanup Ludlow.
“Many of the groups already have their assigned locations, but for those that just show up we will put them in different areas that we have selected for the cleanup,” he said.
Segundo detailed some of the cleanup work people can expect to do.
“It’s going to be trash pickup, raking leaves, cleaning up the tree beds, the sidewalks, areas under the overpasses, places where the trash accumulates. If the weather is good, we are going to be putting in new mulch down at the memorial downtown and may even freshen up the Purple Heart parking spots in town,” he said. “It’s kind of a culmination of just beautifying the town on a single day.”
Segundo said the plan is to get the entire community involved from residents to business owners, the Department of Public Works (DPW) and even the scouts.
“Just take that day if you own a business up and down East Street or Center Street, go out and clean up the front. The DPW will have a truck going around picking up all the trash bags. The Sheriff’s Department is going to bring their community service folks as well. The kids and scouts are going to be at the parks picking up trash,” he said.
DeBarge also encouraged anyone that has their own piece of sidewalk to sweep up their area.
Segundo added that he hopes the cleanup becomes a mainstay in town.
“It’s a big community-wide event, I think it is something we can try to work on doing every year. It’s going to be a good day for the community to come together and to be part of something bigger than themselves, and just take pride in their community and their town,” Segundo said.
DeBarge said he hopes the first cleanup day can produce change immediately and continue in future years.
“I’m hoping that this turns into something that you’ll be able to see a difference after May 7, I’m hoping we get some work done and pick up our downtown. If we could do this on Earth Day or if Eric wants to continue doing something like this on the VFW volunteer day, then I’m all for it. A lot of people call about how our town looks so we have to do what we can to get involved and help out a little bit, there’s nothing wrong with that and there’s a lot to do,” he said. “If everybody does a little bit it’ll take a short amount of time and it’ll pay off.”