Bright and early on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023, local residents and members of our community gathered together at the Church of the Ascension (21641 Great Mills Road) for the second year in a row to help make a difference in Lexington Park. Over 150 volunteers arrived with their friends, family, and coworkers prepared with trash grabbers, gloves, and yard tools, and worked together in groups of roughly 30 to tidy up sections of Great Mills Road and main commercial areas of Lexington Park.
The Impact by the Numbers
Over 155 volunteers on Cleanup Day
Over 55 garbage bags collected by volunteers
Over 27,000 pounds of trash collected in dumpsters
Over $12,000 raised for St. Mary’s CDC
Volunteers on Great Mills Road
Group 1
Leaders: Robin Finnacom & Gerald Fair, Jr.
Volunteers in Group 1 focused their work from St. Mary’s Square to Three Notch Road, and even ventured into commercial centers and side streets like South Shangri La Drive. Community organizations and local churches, like Three Oaks Center, Lexington Park Baptist Church, and SouthPoint Church, were represented by volunteers who cleaned up in the Colony Square neighborhood, around the Lexington Park Library, and near LPBC on Willows Road.
Group 2
Leaders: Wrenn Heisler & Susan Sokoloff
Group 2, assigned from St. Mary’s Square to the U-Haul at Carver School Boulevard, were faced with the monumental task of cleaning up an entire empty lot between Caliber Collision and Leisure World Pool & Spas. They did a fantastic job not only at this location, but along their entire route!
Thanks to Andy Ridgell and his crew from Ridgell Lawncare, the lot had been intensely trimmed a few days before the event to provide the volunteers a much easier way to access the massive quantity of litter hidden deep in the brush, and helped volunteers to avoid a snake hidden in the grass!
Group 3 & Group 4
Leaders: Kelsey Bush & Stephanie Ryal; Jenna Guzman & Jake Layer
Groups 3 and 4 were assigned to the sections from U-Haul to Great Mills High School, and from the high school to Rt. 5, respectively. These groups did an incredible job of leaving the garbage in convenient piles for other volunteers to swing by and pick up after the event!
We are thankful to Swann Transportation, Inc. for providing our volunteers in these groups a free bus ride to Great Mills High School. Bus driver Tammy had a great time and was proud to have been involved!
Results in Local Neighborhoods
We are proud to have worked with Summer Breeze Farms, SOMD Hauling, and St. Mary’s County Department of Public Works & Transportation to coordinate free dumpsters that were placed in local neighborhoods over the weekend. Check out how much our local residents needed them!
This event would not have been possible without the incredible support from our passionate and generous sponsors.
We are so grateful to have received support from all of these local businesses, organizations, and individuals! Thank you!
