Newtown Youth Services Lends A Helping Hand For Spring Cleanups

By Andrew Gorosko

With lawn rakes and wheelbarrows in hand, youths and their families fanned out to 26 locations across town on Saturday, May 1, to aid local senior citizens with a variety of chores as part of Newtown Youth Services’ 5th Annual Independent Living Day.

The volunteer effort involved tasks such as general spring cleanup work, window washing, gardening, and housekeeping chores. The about 90 volunteers worked at residences where senior citizens had requested help with tasks that they would find challenging to perform for themselves.

The youths tackled a variety of tasks for seniors at Nunnawauk Meadows on Nunnawauk Road, a local senior citizens’ housing complex.

At a Nearbrook Drive residence, the Hart family, five members strong, showed up. Parents Bill and Kathleen worked and supervised as daughters Alex, Brie, and Colleen handled the many chores that a winter’s weathering consequently requires in the spring.

At a Blue Spruce Drive front yard, a team of three youths took care of the surprisingly involved task of raking up masses of evergreen needles that had fallen onto the ground.

At that home were teens Ryne Friedman, Maggie Benedict, and Nick Cavaliere.

Farther north, on Greenbriar Lane, a crew of about a dozen turned out for a back yard cleanup project. The youths, guided by adult supervisors, methodically cleaned the yard, transporting collected wastes to a leaf dump located near a wooded area.

The youths participating in the morning work projects had had breakfast at Newtown Youth Services offices at 41-A Main Street. Afternoon volunteers had lunch there.

The volunteer program benefits both senior citizens and youths, according to the organization. The senior citizens get needed work done. The volunteers gain a sense of accomplishment and get to know people who they might not otherwise meet.