Neighbors strive to Keep Walpole Beautiful

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By Robby McKittrick
Hometown Weekly Reporter
 
On Tuesday, November 13, the Keep Walpole Beautiful group met for the second time to discuss different ideas for upcoming projects and fundraising.
 
The organization, which is also part of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful, is a volunteer group that wants to “clean up and green up the town of Walpole.”
 
The group became official at the end of this summer, but started organizing projects last spring. Two of the co-founders, Rebecca Joyce and Lisa Donovan, explained that they are going to work on “beautification projects,” such as an “Adopt-an-Island” program, as well as having an annual litter clean-up for the town.
 
“There are islands around Walpole, and no one really knows about it,” said Donovan. “There is so much we can do, and it won’t even take that much to do it.”

In addition to the island program, the group also received permission from the town to take over the planters in the center of Walpole.
 
“The sky is the limit with what we want to do,” said Joyce. “We are hoping that we find a lot of people that are interested.”
 
The meeting began with Joyce addressing the room on the nature of the group and their overall mission.
 
“We are very new,” she said. “We are open to whatever folks want to do.”
 
Joyce and Donovan explained that they initially met on Facebook, and that they had their first event around a year ago in June. The event was a town clean-up and included around 200 volunteers.

“We know there is interest [in cleaning up Walpole],” said Joyce. “We hope to grow that [clean-up day] into a much more significant event.”
 
After discussing the different projects, such as placing pots around the town, Joyce and Donovan also mentioned the importance of fundraising.
 
“Fundraising is not anyone’s favorite [activity],” Joyce said. “[But], we kind of know the deal on how this gets done.”
 
The group is participating in The Great American Cleanup on April 27, 2019, and hopes to have many volunteers at the event.
 
“We are looking for people who would want to help out [by] cleaning up litter from their own neighborhoods in the town to help make a positive change in our community,” explained Joyce.

Keep Walpole Beautiful will meet on the second Tuesday of every month for anyone interested in helping out in any way.
 
“We are always looking for volunteers to participate,” said Joyce. “Whatever your passion is … we will take you on.”