‘Town Pride, Town Wide’ Beautifies Greater Windham

More than 100 students from Eastern Connecticut State University dispersed around Willimantic on May 28 for “Town Pride, Town Wide,” Eastern’s annual spring cleaning and beautification project. The students volunteered nearly 500 hours of time as they worked at more than 20 sites in collaboration with community partners.

Among their efforts, students washed windows at local churches, picked up trash along roadways, mulched and cleaned garden beds at town parks, painted and raked leaves at nearby housing developments, and much more. Project sites included the Airline Trail/East Coast Greenway, the Windham Textile and History Museum, Lauter Park and Willimantic Whitewater Park; Andover Town Hall; local nonprofit organizations Windham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM), CLiCK and Grow Windham; and others.

Sponsored by Eastern’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE), “Town Pride, Town Wide” is the university’s largest volunteer event of the year. This year it was funded in part by The Last Green Valley, Inc.

“Town Pride, Town Wide” started years ago as a means to give Eastern students the opportunity to work closely with community members and agencies. The event is a collaboration between the CCE, Windham Region Chamber of Commerce, Willimantic Waste Paper Co. and the Town of Windham.

Written by Michael Rouleau

Categories: Community Engagement