Yesterday's Volunteer Clean up at The Old Fairgrounds

Yesterday afternoon, in Cooperation with Friends of the Allentown Parks, Dr. Phil Stein of Temple Beth El collaborated with Jeff Pooley of the Old Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association , the Allentown Rescue Mission, and Dubbs UCC Church to do the first part of a multi-day volunteer clean up effort at the Old Fairgrounds Playground.





It was a deceptively mild November day, meaning that, as soon as you began raking and weeding it became quite hot and you sweat as if it were still summer. I was very glad to be able to participate in this wonderful volunteer activity. It is without a doubt, something that needs to happen more often in Allentown.

As we were working, a steady stream of young folks from the neighborhood joined in with excitement and spent their Sunday afternoon off from school shoveling mulch and working hard to help beautify a wonderful asset to downtown Allentown.


When we began our work, the mulch beds had been infiltrated by weeds and were in need of re-mulching. After amassing piles of waste and bagging them, the mulch beds were covered anew.



I want to personally thank this fellow named Bryan:

He worked with me for a long while and despite being disappointed by the non-availability of a shovel, put his back into it and really helped out. Great kid.

At a time when another downtown Allentown playground has suffered extreme vandalism, our effort on Sunday afternoon seemed that much more needed. As someone who enjoys the parks on a nearly daily basis, giving back to them whenever the chance is presented is something I believe to be the right thing to do. I am proud to do it. To be able to see a local community unite for an afternoon to help make a communal resource better was an amazing thing to be a part of.

Thanks again to everyone who organized this event and thanks to everyone who came out to work in support of it. I'm looking forward to the next time.

See Also:

Planting the Riparian Buffer at Cedar Beach