Pottstown CARES to Host a Clean-Up Oct. 25

Volunteers coming from the Pottstown School District, the Borough of Pottstown and The Hill School planned to make tangible their Pottstown pride and commitment with two events in the borough; the first day, Saturday, Oct. 19, has passed, and the community is gearing up for the Friday, Oct. 25 event, according to a release from the school district.

The combined CARES (Community, Awareness, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Sustainability) effort had its impetus in the conversations amongst Borough Manager Mark Flanders, Hill School Headmaster Zachary Lehman and Pottstown School Superintendent Jeff Sparagan. They wanted to create a collaborative effort to tidy up part of Pottstown’s core and spread Pottstown pride.   

“It is my hope that this is the beginning of something bigger, and that, as time goes on, Pottstown CARES is a way of life for the residents of Pottstown – rather than a scheduled event,” Flanders said, in the release.

The first session of the effort, a community day, took place on Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It was held at The Hill School.

The second session of the effort, a clean-up, will take place on Friday, Oct. 25 from Hanover Street east to Edgewood Street, and from High Street north to Beech Street. The rain date is Oct. 28. Students and staff from Pottstown High School and The Hill School, as well as borough officials and workers will tidy up those areas by picking up trash, weeding, and more. Volunteers will also tidy up Edgewood Cemetery. Seven-hundred people are estimated to attend.

The volunteers will assemble under The Hill School’s former hockey rink roof at 8:30 a.m. for instructions. They will work until 12:30 p.m., when they will return to Hill for a picnic lunch provided by Sodexo, the school’s food service provider.  Sodexo will donate the food for all Hill students and employees, as well as the Pottstown School District and borough volunteers.

The Pottstown School District will run a blood drive form 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Pottstown High School. Those who wish to make a donation should contact faculty member Mark Agnew at magnew@pottstownsd.org or 610-970-6707.

Those who wish to donate work tools, gloves, and trash or leaf bags for this CARES event and future projects can take their items to be donated to Borough Hall at 100 E. High Street in Pottstown.