LAWRENCE — Despite the rain, two dozen volunteers met Saturday morning to clean up the area around Veteran’s Memorial Stadium before a city celebration on the evening of July 3.
The volunteers raked leaves, scooped up debris and garbage and bagged the trash, said Juan “Manny” Gonzalez, who led the effort.
The stadium is located on Winthrop Avenue (Route 114). The volunteers also worked in the nearby areas of Sullivan Park and tennis and basketball courts.
Later, the crew moved to Manchester Street Park where the carefully filled two red Sharps containers with used hypodermic needles, Gonzalez said.
Bags of trash, previously collected by others, were found in the area. Gonzalez said the bags are re-bagged and disposed of.
“We hope we made that area a little bit safer,” he said.
Gonzalez said he also spoke with homeless who were living in various areas in tents about bringing a dumpster to the area for their refuse.
Future clean ups will focus on areas along the Spicket River, he said.
The “Light Up Lawrence” fireworks event, sponsored by the city, will be held on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the stadium.
Gonzalez is a city firefighters, co-founder of Heal Lawrence, a city charity that helps fire victims, and a candidate for mayor in the city election coming up after this year.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill and on threads at jillyharma.