Hempfield community members, students gather for Earth Day volunteering

Rainy weather and cool temperatures didn’t stop Hempfield residents on Earth Day from helping to keep their environment clean and refreshed.

According to Marissa Haynes, Hempfield’s interim director of parks and recreation, residents arrived as early as 7:30 a.m. to drop off tires at the township’s Hands On Hempfield event at Hempfield Park.

As part of the township’s packed slate of Earth Day events, a public works team helped load tires and other oversized trash and debris into dumpsters. As of noon, the group had collected more than 170 old car tires, along with other items, Haynes said.

“It’s any household items, tires, scrap — pretty much anything you can think of that is bigger and doesn’t go in the typical garbage on a day-to-day,” she said. “We do take recyclables as well, but it’s just (a) general cleanup day.”

The goal of the cleanup collection is to make things easier on both the residents and the township, she said.

“It’s helping support our code and public works department, and the community,” she said. “Sometimes, they will see things and pick it up, or see houses that might need extra help getting rid of these larger items. Rather than them getting fines, they can bring it here and get that relief with this day.”

This event is the first official Earth Day celebration at the township park in a long time, after last year’s planned event was rescheduled.

“This is the first time we’re really having a signature Earth Day event,” she said. “As a park, our job is to help provide recreation space, but also to educate individuals on conservation purposes. That is why we decided it was really important for us to have an Earth Day event here at the park.”

Teaming up

At a pavilion farther in the park, project manager Kelly Ditson organized a busy afternoon of activities for a small group of volunteers of all ages. Parents, teens, college students, and younger children gathered to plant wildflowers, pick up trash, and dedicate a newly built Little Free Library for used books.

The library stand was built using funds raised by the Maxwell Elementary Student Council. In all, the council raised $1,000.

Parent Alyssa Kunselman brought her kids, Grayson, 11, and Camilla, 8, to help out with the library stand’s dedication.

“It’s important to our family to be really involved in the community,” she said. “My husband is a teacher at the school, and they are very involved here. It’s good as young students for them to see that they can help out where we live, work, and play.”

Construction company Pellis Construction donated the labor costs for the library stand. Carla Pellis, who is part of a recently formed “Friends of the Park” group, said she’s happy to be involved. Her daughter, Mia, 11, spearheaded the creation of a similar library stand at the elementary school last year with her dad.

“We’re just here to help as members of the community, give feedback and also get feedback from our people of influence, and to help the park make some decisions,” Pellis said. “I think it’s a really good idea, and it’s like them reaching out to the community to say we want your input. That’s how I understand it right now.”

The group was formed earlier this year and first met in March. Currently, it has seven members.

“It’s a good start,” she said.

Helping out

A group of freshman students from Seton Hill University attended the Earth Day festivities to help out.

Arianna Shernisky said the group was inspired to attend by her chemistry professor, who spent the day volunteering at another park.

“She wanted to do something for Earth Day, so she asked us all to volunteer,” she said. “She’s always telling us about keeping our environment clean and helping out. I’m pretty sure our whole chem class is going to different places across Greensburg today.”

At the beginning of the school year, the group volunteered at the Westmoreland Food Bank, said student Andrea Nanthikattu.

“We’re familiar with (volunteering), but it’s more that we see the advertisements from our school, and think, ‘oh, this will be cool,’” she said.

Ditson said she was glad to see different age groups of kids and adults participating. She hopes to add more environmental education components later on and in future events.

“We really want to do a little more with Earth Day education, even throughout the year, not just on Earth Day, because every day is Earth Day,” she said. “There’s a lot on the education side that people don’t realize. You showed up and you helped your local community.

But what are some of these issues and where do they stem from, and what else can we do on a bigger scale to help as well?”