May 20, 2024
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East side Joliet neighborhood needs volunteers for Saturday’s cleanup day

Chat with neighbors, meet new friends, get community service hours.

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Approximately 15 people gathered where at noon on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, at Hartman Pavilion on Collins Street in Joliet, to discuss why a previously scheduled block party at the Old Joliet Prison was canceled. at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 21, 2022, volunteers will meet at this same location to pick up supplies and receive assignments for the Collins St. Neighborhood Council's annual Neighborhood Cleanup Day. (Denise Unland)

Come out for a little spring cleaning Saturday on Joliet’s East side.

The Collins Street Neighborhood Council is staging its annual Neighborhood Cleanup Day, and extra help of any age is welcome. People younger than 16 must be accompanied by an adult, said council President Tanya Arias.

This cleanup day is in honor of Robert Sanchez, a longtime neighborhood resident who died in 2021. Sanchez advocated for the Collins Street neighborhood and believed in keeping it clean, according to the council.

Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. at the Hartman Center pavilion, 511 Collins St. in Joliet. Supplies will be provided, but participants are welcome to bring their own, Arias said.

“It’s our home,” Arias said. “So we want to make sure it’s beautiful.”

People will walk the neighborhoods and pick up trash in the areas around Collins Street, Arias said. The more volunteers who pitch in, the more areas the group can tackle.

“It’s just a good community event to engage with our neighbors, our residents and our businesses, to get out and walk our neighborhood and make sure it’s clean,” Arias said.

Typically, about 10 to 20 people attend the annual event, which has been held since at least 2010, except for the past two years, Arias said.

“So we’re hoping now that, after COVID, people are more able to come out and help,” Arias said.

Sometimes people who assist other neighborhood cleanup events come out, “just to show that camaraderie between neighborhoods,” Arias said.

“And if anyone needs community service hours, this is a great opportunity for that, too,” Arias said.

The cleanup day will be rescheduled if the weather turns inclement, Arias said.

To RSVP and for information, email collinsstneighborhood@gmail.com.