Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Grant helps to change

By G. Michael Dobbs, Managing Editor

HOLYOKE The Massachusetts Lottery is helping to fight litter in the city with a presentation of a $5,000 grant made on Thursday to Mayor Michael Sullivan.

On hand for the presentation were five of the young people in the city participating in a campaign sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club to encourage residents to properly dispose of their trash and to recycle. The campaign has included the creation and distribution of posters by children as well as a public service announcement that has been broadcast locally in Spanish and English on Univision.

Amanda Rodriquez, one of the cast members of the video, said it was shot in one day at the Boys & Girls Club gym last November.

Dave O'Reilly, the project manager for the lottery, said this was his first trip to Holyoke and was impressed with how clean the sidewalks were. The lottery now has a program to award grants to communities for litter projects. The lottery funds may be used for new trash containers designed for hand-held litter that would be maintained by local businesses.

Sullivan said the city has seen a 38 percent increase in the amount of recycling and said the city is looking into a new divided trash can that would have separate compartments for trash and recycled materials.

Businesses that are interested in learning more on the new basket program should contact the mayor's office at 322-5511.