GREENFIELD — Despite the threat of severe weather, a couple hundred volunteers still came together on Saturday morning at the Green River Swimming and Recreation Area for the 23rd annual Green River Cleanup.
The Green River Cleanup, part of the broader Source to Sea Cleanup run by the Greenfield-based Connecticut River Conservancy, has grown from a small group of about a dozen volunteers two decades ago to a large volunteer force supported by local businesses as well as school groups. Students from Greenfield High School and Northfield Mount Hermon School, along with members of the Boy Scouts and city councilors, were among those lending a hand on Saturday.
Greenfield resident David Boles, who runs the Green River Cleanup, identified more than 40 different sites around the city that volunteer groups could clean. However, work along the bike path and in Green River Park attracted the largest groups of volunteers, with attendees removing unwanted trash of abandoned campsites left in the woods.
“There are certain places that repeat themselves each year,” Boles said, “but it is related to people having no place to be. Sadly, the cleanup has morphed into a lot of helping take care of places that people gravitate to because they’re homeless.”
Boles emphasized that while consistent volunteer efforts like the Green River Cleanup are great, city and town governments need to seek solutions to help alleviate homelessness and regulate spaces along waterways.
“Cities and towns need to come to grips with the fact that there’s a lot of homeless people that we can’t keep pushing off to external waterways,” he said. “Nobody has really come up with a decent solution to keep the waterways clean and safe while providing people placement.”
While long-term solutions are sought, volunteer efforts are an effective way to manage areas along the Green River. Over the past two years, the Green River Cleanup has removed more than 50 tons of trash. Erving resident Beth Bazler, who has been a longtime volunteer with the Connecticut River Conservancy and has run cleanups in the Gill and Montague area, emphasized the need to keep up these volunteer efforts.
“When I first started getting involved with cleanups, I thought one day I could ‘fix’ these problems,” Bazler reflected. “But I’ve realized that this won’t just be done.”
Greenfield resident Mike Pattavina, who is a seasonal technician with the Connecticut River Conservancy, echoed Bazler, emphasizing how consistent, small steps and continued volunteer work are making a difference.
“It’s going to be baby steps. There’s not going to be some idea to fix the whole problem, because it is a complicated social issue,” Pattavina said. “Our job at the CRC is the volunteer system to protect the riverbank, but we have to figure out how to protect the river and the homeless.”
Pattavina also agreed with Boles in his hope that city and town governments can help regulate areas along the river, but he knows it is a complicated task.
“If there was a model to address homelessness, the communities would follow it,” he said. “We would have a solution to this. But almost every community in America is facing these issues, and no one has really been able to solve it, especially in a rural community like Greenfield, which has limited resources.”
Pattavina encouraged younger generations to get involved in their community.
“Younger folks just need to be active in their communities. Volunteer and see what things are happening on the ground. It’s not just about learning things in the classroom or reading things in books,” Pattavina said. “Because after you see what is happening on the ground, it will make it easier to decide how they want to address the issues and needs of their community.”
One cleanup volunteer, Christopher Williams, created Mountain Man Network to provide the homeless with the resources and skills needed to help them get back on their feet. Williams, of Greenfield, was formerly homeless and uses his experience to offer face-to-face help, with the Mountain Man Network’s website detailing his work to “provide innovative solutions and specialized services in support of adult marginalized individuals.”
Williams first got involved with the Green River Cleanup last year. He emphasized how human connection and compassion is necessary in helping to solve homelessness.
“We all think we are above it and we can judge. But what we don’t understand is we can be there. So, really look at people and be compassionate,” Williams said. “Understand that each person has their struggles, so show compassion and understanding. Getting to someone’s level and talking to them is best; my work is very personal.”
Williams emphasized the need to get involved in hands-on work, as seeing homelessness as simply a statistic won’t help humanize the issue.
Volunteers were compensated for their work through a large lunch at noon, featuring food and drinks from local businesses such as Foster’s Supermarket, The People’s Pint and Real Pickles, among others. Music was provided by the Boys of the Landfill.
Ultimately, Boles reminds everyone that environmental cleanups are about compassion for people and the environment.
“I don’t do this for money,” he said. “I do this because I love the river and I care about water and I care about people.”
