Middletown Community Gives Back With Earth Week Cleanup

On Saturday morning at Middletown Township Community Park, Paul Kopera was struggling to remove an old tire lodged into the ground in the nearby woods. 

His effort was part of an Earth Day Cleanup event at five sites, including the community park on Langhorne-Yardley Road, Twin Oaks Park, Forsythia Crossing Park, the Cobalt Ridge-Quincy Hollow greenbelt, Firefighters’ Park, and Juniper Hill Park. 

The event, which was created by the Middletown Township Environmental Advisory Council and sponsored by the Diane Loomis Team of Keller Williams Real Estate, had a total of 120 volunteers between all sites. 

On Saturday morning, parents and children were heading into the Middletown Township woods with trash bags, picking up plastic bottles and other trash. Volunteers were asked to arrive at the park at 9 a.m. and were instructed to clean up high traffic areas including the skate park, basketball courts, sports fields, and playground. 

Kopera, the township’s park and recreation director, was distributing the trash bags and gloves and reminding families to keep their distance. The event took place between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. as families gathered trash bags near the dumpster to be documented and discarded. 

A friendly competition was established between the six sites to see who could collect the most bags of trash. The winning site would receive eco-friendly prizes including reusable grocery bags and other gifts. 

Diane Loomis, the sponsor for the event, said that it was encouraging to see so many parents and their kids heading into the woods. 

“You know, as I’m watching these families head into the woods, I hear the parents telling their kids ‘this is our community park so we need to help pick up’, which is awesome to hear,” she said. 

Loomis said that the Middletown Parks and Recreation Department will often hold Earth Day events, but with the COVID-19 pandemic requiring social distancing, she said that this was a good alternative where the community could come out and volunteer while keeping their distancing. She hopes that this event can become an annual occasion. 

“My hope is that this will educate families to be mindful and that this isn’t something we do once a year. if you see trash you should pick it up. I try to make that a life habit of mine,” Loomis said. 

Deep into the woods, Jennifer Shearer was instructing a Girl Scouts troop to pick up an old plastic barrel, while another volunteer began rolling an old tire up the hill towards the dumpsters. 

Shearer has been an instructor for the girl scouts for over 10 years. She said it is encouraging to see her team out on Saturday morning. 

“To see a group of teenage girls getting up in the morning on a Saturday, and helping collect trash in a park where they’ve been playing soccer since they were 4 years old – it’s great. It’s special to them. It’s making the grounds that they played on nicer, and it’s bettering the community,” Shearer said. 

Shearer’s daughter Dylana, 15, of Langhorne, was struggling with her fellow scouts as they tried to remove the submerged plastic barrel from shallow water. She said it was their duty to help clean the place where she and her friends made so many memories. 

“It was very nice to see everyone come out and help the community,” she said. 

Diane Loomis and Kopera were discussing which areas of the woods they would next clean up. Kopera noted that a large 6-foot table was left in the back of the woods. Loomis flashed a smile and headed back into the woods, ready to get back to work. 

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