Volunteers Needed for ‘Clean Up Foxborough Day’ on Saturday, June 1

Town Historian Jack Authelet has dedicated his life to preserving both the history and appearance of Foxborough and has taken exception to the amount of litter he has seen around town.

“Last year at Town Meeting we were discussing an article about Foxborough going green with construction climates and so forth,” Authelet told Foxborough’s Board of Selectmen at Tuesday’s meeting. “I took the opportunity to mention I thought we had a much more pressing matter about Foxborough going clean.

“I commented on the amount of litter everywhere. I lamented the absence of trash barrels. … I really thought something would happen after those remarks but here we are and nothing did.”

So Authelet took matters into his own hands, submitting an article that was published in the May 2nd Foxboro Reporter entitled, “Time to Clean Up Foxborough.”

The article called for residents and the town to take action in an effort to clean up the town. Shortly after the article published, Authelet received a call from AJ Dooley of Dooley Disposal Services.

Dooley told selectmen Tuesday his company would be assisting Authelet in a town-wide cleanup in any way it could and will be encouraging others to get involved.

“Jack and I have discussed the project and decided it would be advantageous for the town if the cleanup could be completed on June 1 in preparation for ,” Dooley said.

Dooley announced his company will be donating all the necessary equipment needed for the June 1st town-wide cleanup day.

“Furthermore we will absorb all disposal and recycling costs during the event,” Dooley said. “Our only request is the town aids us in promotion of this event. We love this town and we believe this is a tremendous opportunity to come together and clean it up.”

To help recruit volunteers and lay the foundation to make this cleanup day an annual event in Foxborough, Dooley has launched a website (click here) for people to learn more about the event and register to help.

“I’m just hoping to try and create something that can be done year after year and

Authelet explained cleanup day volunteers will be designated to different sections of town to fill bags of debris and litter. Once bags are full, Dooley’s company will be called and a truck will arrive to the site to pick up the trash and properly dispose of it.

Dooley added children volunteering during the event will not be placed in “bad traffic areas” and assured the board no one will be put at risk during the event.

“We will be off the roads,” Dooley said.

Authelet and Dooley hope to get the town’s many groups and organizations involved to help make this event a success in cleaning up Foxborough.

“We just hope this could make a statement for the entire town,” Authelet said. … “There’s other groups that want to get involved. Invensys wants to get involved. AJ coaches a couple sports teams and he thinks a lot of young athletes will want to be out there helping. This is a natural fit for scout groups.”

Those who would like to volunteer are encouraged to log on to Cleanup Foxborough Day’s website and register. If you are unable to attend on June 1 but still want to be involved, the event is in need of sponsors (more information on how to be a sponsor is on the website).

The June 1 event is expected to begin at 8 a.m. at the designated areas of town (more information to be released) and last until 2 p.m.

“This is a starting point,” Dooley said. “We’re not expecting to clean the whole entire town in this short amount of time but this is something I want to build off of.”

Mansfield Finds Success in Annual Cleanup Day

Dooley noted during Tuesday’s meeting that Mansfield has been holding an annual town-wide cleanup day since 2008 and it has proven to be extremely successful in improving the appearance of the town.

“The first time [Mansfield] did this they had 1,000 volunteers,” Dooley said. “They took something like five tons of debris off the streets. That’s 10,000 pounds of litter. Do I think we are going to get to that this year? No. But I don’t see why we couldn’t next year. We have to start somewhere. I think now is the time.”

Foxboro Against Diabetes 5K Will Not Be Impacted by Cleanup Day

Foxborough selectman James DeVellis pointed out the 13th annual Foxboro Against Diabetes 5K will be held the same day as the town-wide cleanup day and asked if that would be a problem.

Dooley said he used to run the event and knows the route well and that it wouldn't be a problem.

“We can stay away from that and clean up that area afterwards,” Dooley said.

The 5K begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 1. Click here for more information.