Volunteers from the Town of Montgomery and the Walden Rotary Club gathered at the town hall on Saturday, May 18, and prepared for their grimiest challenge yet: the town’s annual clean sweep. After donning their safety vests and readying their trash pickers, the group set off to beautify the town’s streets, one litter piece at a time.

For the past 25 years, members of the Walden Rotary have kept Montgomery’s streets spotless during its clean sweeps; Raynard Ozman, Walden Village Justice, played a major role in keeping this tradition alive. While the town holds its own cleanup program, the CAC’s Riverkeeper Sweep, it began contributing to the Rotary’s sweep in 2020. Since then, both parties have combined their efforts to eradicate all manners of debris hiding in the town’s crevices.

“We get a lot of calls about garbage, so it’s nice that people want to come out and help us out,” said Lauren Rowley, the clerk to the town supervisor.

From 10 a.m. onward, about two dozen volunteers collected garbage from the most severe spots in the town: Berea Road, Bracken Road, North Drury Lane, Stone Castle Road, and the Rail Trail. The volunteers that participated in this year’s sweep included Audie Bellarosa, Carmen Blough, Dave Blough, Kevin Cannon, Wendy Darrow, Diane Decker, Mike Heit, Declan Hine, Joe Hine, Ginny Neidermeir, Ray Ozman, Mark Palczewski, Joe Pedro, John Revella, Lauren Rowley, Bill Schimpf, Lila Snyder, Mike Snyder, and members of Scout Troop 31.

“I feel good about cleaning up the community,” said Mark Palczewski, a resident.

“It’s great to do this small part, every bit counts,” said John Revella, Walden’s manager and a member of the Rotary.

“It’s a good project, it encourages everyone to clean up their act and do a good job,” said Bill Schimpf, former Maybrook mayor and village justice and a member of the Rotary, adding that “The Rotary leads the way.”