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Assistant Managing Editor EAST LONGMEADOW Last Sunday over 5,300 homes received The East Longmeadow Environmental Service Guide thanks to East Longmeadow High School student Dan Stearns. The effort was not entirely his. Stearns saw an opportunity to serve his community while fulfilling his requirements to become an Eagle Scout and suddenly his project became a community-wide collaboration. "I went to the Department of Public Works trying to think of things I could do around the town, and Mr. Sean Kelley, the senior project manager, mentioned that they were putting out the environmental booklet but had no resources to [get it to residents]," Stearns explained. Kelley said assembling the environmental booklets was "a joint effort. Myself representing the DPW and Nick Breault with the Selectman's office and Arlene Miller of the DEP." He said it came up in one of their discussions and was something that needed to be done. According to Kelley, the need was apparent by the number of phone calls requesting how to properly dispose of waste. "So we figured if we'd put it all together in one handy source than we'd be ahead of the game," Kelley said. "We thought, 'wouldn't it be great if everyone in town could get one?' When it went from more than a couple of pages to over 30, we had many drafts of the book go back and forth between us. We each handled our own expertise areas." The guide deals with recyclables, hazardous wastes, trash collection and more. "The majority of it is East Longmeadow specific. It deals with our curbside pickup and the Knowlton Transfer Station. There is quite a bit of general information such as pesticides, lawn fertilizers, animal wastes, how do get rid of things such as paint," Kelley said. The town did not have the financial resources to distribute the guide so Stearns and the community went into action. Students in a graphic arts class, led by East Longmeadow High School teacher Mark Greene, created the cover design of the booklet; Stearns was able to round up 30-40 volunteers to assist with the delivery; Reminder Publications supplied the delivery bags; Co-Op Printing published the guides; Big Y donated goods for the volunteers including paper plates, snacks and drinks; and Fazio's prepared pizza. Volunteers worked in two, three-hour shifts, from nine in the morning until noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For an hour in between they broke for lunch. The 16-year-old high school junior couldn't be more proud of the way things turned out. "It went more successful than we thought it would. We planned to do it from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. and we finished at 3 p.m. All the booklets were distributed successfully," Stearns said. | ||||||
