Before summer arrives, the village of East Rochester will do some spring cleaning.
Teams of residents, business owners, organizations and other volunteers will get together 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 12, for the annual CleanSweep/GreenER Recycle Day. The event is being sponsored for the first time by the new East Rochester Chamber of Commerce, formed late last year, and the town/village of East Rochester.
“It’s modeled after the city of Rochester’s Clean Sweep event,” said Chamber President Joe Cavallaro. “The big difference this year, from our standpoint, is we’re doing corporate sponsorships.”
He said 21 corporate sponsors have signed up. Their names will be featured on a T-shirt given to participants who will meet in the parking lot of the Village Hall, 120 W. Commercial Street. Cavallaro said the volunteers will be divided into teams of six to 10 people to go out and clean the community. Free refreshments will be served.
The event will cover 20 service areas throughout the village, including all four parks. Each team is expected to spend about two hours cleaning up their area.
The CleanSweep also includes the collection of electronics and other recyclables to keep them out of landfills. That’s the “GreenER part,” which will also take place in the village parking lot.
Cavallaro said the sponsorships have raised about $2,200 for the chamber, to be used for Chamber programs and the establishment of a scholarship for a local business student.
“We were looking to participate and sponsor and organize events when we put the Chamber together,” he said. “Marty D’Ambrose (village administrator) came to us and said, ‘I’ve got a couple of events here that are already organized so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.’ We feel there’s a lot more potential if we can get the business community behind it, so we took it over and are looking to grow.”
Anyone interested in participating may register at the village’s Web site at www.eastrochester.org or just show up the morning of June 12.
The Chamber is also sponsoring the annual Karnocker 5K race July 23 during the East Rochester Fire Department’s Field Days.
