By Marlene McTigue
Capital Region Independent Media
As luck would have it, it was a cloudy but rainless spring morning when over 40 people turned out at the Ravena village offices on April 20 for the annual village cleanup day.
Event organizer Deputy Mayor Nancy Warner greeted participants as they arrived, handing out oversized black trash bags and gloves to all who were ready and willing to hit the streets and get the job done.
Everyone was assigned a section of the village to work and off they went on foot or in their vehicles to head out to the village’s further regions.
Participants came from all over the RCS district to participate and included members of the RCS Community Business Association and students from the Ravena Innovation Station, which hosted refreshments and a little engineering after the cleanup.
Warner was thrilled with the turnout.
“This year was the best yet,” she said. “Thank you to RCSCBA and Ravena Innovation Project. I was thrilled to see so many youth participating.”
Village Trustee Caitlin Appleby was among the participants who came out to clean up and then headed back to the Innovation Station afterwards.
“This is a great way to celebrate Earth Day and help keep our village looking like the beautiful place it is,” Appleby said. “I think the event went phenomenally well this year. We had the most participation we’ve seen in years. It was great to see such a large number of adults but also the number of kids who showed up today. It’s really cool to see our youth being involved.”
RCS Community Business Association Board member Jordon Egelston attended with her daughter and said it was a positive experience for all.
“The village clean-up day was a fantastic event,” said Egelston, “bringing together not only residents and their children but also numerous local businesses and organizations. Everyone joined forces with a shared commitment to enhancing our community and it was such a great thing to see.”
Inside the Innovation Station after the cleanup, visitors were welcomed to use their human ingenuity to build birdhouses in honor of Earth Day.
Even the tiniest of hands got involved with the project. Egelston’s 4-year-old daughter Everly even got in on the fun of engineering and then painting her own birdhouse.
It was hard work making my birdhouse,” said Everly. “I liked painting it pretty pink and purple for the birds.”
Kate Robertson, one of the Innovation Station founders, attended the cleanup with her family.
“We were excited to see so many of our parents and kids participate in the village cleanup,” Robertson said. “It was my first year doing it with my kids and it was fun to do something outdoors together on such a beautiful day. It spurred us to do our own street on the actual Earth Day.”
