Make a Difference Day

[Editor]

Volunteers 'Slam Dunk the Junk' all over Hackensack
Saturday, October 23, 2010
BY JOHN BRENNAN
The Record
STAFF WRITER

Parks, riverfronts, streets, and parking lots all over Hackensack should look noticeably cleaner thanks to the “Slam Dunk the Junk” citywide cleanup that took place Saturday morning.

The event, organized by the non-profit group New Jersey Clean Communities, included more than a dozen groups with three to 30 participants apiece removing litter from assigned sections of town. Volunteers gathered at the Java’s Brewin’ coffee shop on Main Street to pick up gloves, trash bags, and a free T-shirt before fanning out to their respective locations.

Event coordinator Charlotte Panny fretted slightly at the coffee shop that she had 144 T-shirts — but more than 200 volunteers.

“I think maybe more people are in a volunteer mood, with the down economy,” Panny said. “They want to make a difference, which is our theme.”

Jean-Pierre Mascetti, scoutmaster for Cub Scout Pack 5, said as some boys picked up trash in Staib Park that about 10 parents and 10 children were expected to participate. A half-dozen boys, ranging in age from 6 to 10, were thrilled to collect an unexpected bonus in a woodsy section of the park — a barely-used baseball.

“Some of the boys already understand the idea of not littering because when they go camping they follow the rule of ‘Leave no trace,’” Mascetiti said. “It’s funny — sometimes they like to analyze the garbage instead of just picking it up. And they get excited if they see big stuff like a cart or a wheel, where it takes a team of them to pull it out.”

The cleanup at Columbus Park was handled by children from the Padre Pio Academy, where volunteer Jim Vrindten said that the youngsters are very enthusiastic about “giving back to the community” by beautifying the park.

Fairleigh Dickinson University Assistant Professor Robert Sorensen led a group of a dozen students and faculty members in a campus cleanup near the bank of the Hackensack River. Sorensen said he is a member of the school’s Green Campus Committee, which also focuses on recycling and ways to conserve energy at the school.

Church on the Green members cleaned up stray papers at their cemetery, while other areas were addressed by volunteers from places such as Hackensack High School, St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Jersey Transit, and the Boys and Girls Club. Panny said Habitat for Humanity had a particularly large turnout.

The motto of “Slam Dunk the Junk” was created by Quamir Payton, an eighth-grade student from East Orange. Previous cleanups have taken place this month in Clifton and Paterson, and Garfield will be the site of another such event on Saturday. For more information, go to www.njclean.org.

[Editor]

Hackensack residents help to make a difference
Friday, November 2, 2012

BY  CAESAR DARIAS
CORRESPONDENT
Hackensack Chronicle

They pulled out everything from glass bottles and cans to old shoes, hockey equipment, aluminum gutters, chairs, chunks of concrete and a car tire.


CHRISTOPHER TRENTO/PHOTO

Linda Flynn with Daniel Chi and Valeria Cardenas participate in a cleanup at Borg's Woods as part of the city's annual Make a Difference Day. It all happened at Borg's Woods, just one of the locations targeted for clean-up by the City of Hackensack during the 4th Annual Make a Difference Day, which is part of the New Jersey Clean Communities Council's "Slam Dunk the Junk" anti-littering campaign.

Equally important, participants say, is that invasive plant species were targeted for removal.

"We're going into the community to beautify Hackensack," said Linda Flynn, a 5th grade earth science teacher at Hackensack Middle School on Union Street. "But our mission is to take care of Borg's Woods, which is a preserve. Many of the residents of Hackensack don't even know it exists. We come in to clean up the garbage."

Flynn and about 25 of her students gathered at Allen Street and Fairmount Avenue on Saturday morning for the clean-up, an activity they do twice a year.

Borg's Woods is a 15 acre natural expanse with native trees such as American beech, red oak, red maple and tulip trees, explained Eric Martindale, a contractor, former Hackensack resident and preservationist who has been active in matters related to the Woods for more than 25 years.

"We want to keep the woods in a clean and desirable condition so that people can enjoy it," said Martindale. "The woods was preserved in 1995. It's an over 200-year-old forest. Some would say over 300 years old."

Marindale says many animals make their home in the woods. "We've had everything back here from deer to coyotes to foxes and turkeys," he said.

He laments that some contractors dump their trash in the woods. "Look at this chunk of concrete," said Martindale as he carried it out of the woods. "They take their leftover material and throw in here."

It is weeds, however, that threaten the woods more than garbage. "The Japanese Knotweed is one of the worst," said Martindale while continuing to pull out weeds. "It crowds out the native species and you can see right here, nothing else is growing except them. They just completely shade over and they take over."

Martindale explained that the presence of invasive plants disrupts the natural balance of the forest. "In their native habitat which is Japan, Korea, parts of China, there are bugs and things that eat it," said Martindale. "Here it has no predator so it just grows like crazy, completely unchecked."

Flynn added that people sometimes dump plants that become problematic for the ecosystem.

"We should have weeds or ferns here that would be productive, provide food for Monarch butterflies or just be native plants that belong here," said Flynn. "Instead we have these species that belong in somebody's garden. The violet, the state plant, it's getting pushed out by plants like this. There's a also a weed, the Purple Winter Creeper. It's a plant that people put as a ground cover on their property, but it's taken over big swatches of land. So there's no ferns, there's no violets because they can't compete with that. "

The day was also a good cause for field study for the young scientists from Flynn's 5th grade classroom.

"I think it's important to keep it clean and to pull out the weeds," said Marijah Martinez. "It's important for nature."

Carolina Gonzalez agreed. "I came out here to help because I want to participate and it's a good learning experience," she said. "I don't mind getting up early on Saturday to be here."

George Losche simply stated, "I'm glad to be here to help."

"You can't really teach science in the classroom," said Flynn. "You have to take them out. So when we're out here I just tie everything that we've been talking about- native species, what animals and plants live in this kind of environment versus the beach. I took them to Sandy Hook. So we've been making comparisons. And it's to make them feel connected to nature again. We kind of lost that along the way."

According to Charlotte Panny, the Clean Communities Coordinator from the city manager's office, other areas targeted for clean-up included the Main Street central business district, Route 80 at Marginal Road along Hudson Street and the Hackensack River Walk from River Street to Hackensack Avenue.

Participants included the St. Anthony of Padua Church youth group, Fairleigh Dickinson University's "Green Team," New Mercy Community Church, Hackensack High School's "Going Green" environmental club and Boy Scout Pack and Troop No. 5.