Volunteers Make Foxborough's First Clean Up Day an 'Overwhelming Success'

On Saturday, over 200 volunteers set out to clean up the town in Foxborough’s first ever organized clean up day and the results were better than imagined.

“The clean up effort was an overwhelming success and the volunteers represented a broad cross-section of the community,” said event co-organizer and Town Historian Jack Authelet.

AJ Dooley, owner of Dooley Disposal Services, contacted Authelet after reading an article submitted by the town historian to the Foxboro Reporter for the May 2nd edition entitled, “Time to Clean Up Foxborough.”

After discussing the logistics of organizing a community clean up day, Authelet and Dooley presented the idea to the town’s Board of Selectmen, which gratefully approved the organizers’ request for Saturday, June 1.

“Jack and I 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 prior to the clean up day his company would donate all the necessary equipment needed for the event.

“We love this town and we believe this is a tremendous opportunity to come together and clean it up.”

And it was as hundreds of volunteers showed up to clean up their town.

“Many of the volunteers were among the youngest ever drawn into a public project of this nature, which bodes well for the future,” Authelet said. … “AJ Dooley really stepped up to the plate and committed his entire organization to making this happen.  They were unbelievable.”

Dooley Disposal Services shared the following message on their Facebook page following Saturday’s effort:

“Thank you to all who came out and participated and/or sponsored ‘Clean Up Foxboro Day,” Dooley Disposal Service said. “What an amazing success. Well over 200 volunteers came together, donated their time and hard work to clean up Foxboro. Thanks to you, our streets and ally ways are cleaner and our community came together to accomplish this goal.
“We sincerely appreciate everyone's time and effort and could not be happier with what we have all accomplished.”

Authelet said the clean up effort accomplished everything he and Dooley hoped it would when the two met with selectmen on May 7.

“[The event] also gave over 200 volunteers something to feel very proud about,” Authelet said. … Remarkable, how many people thanked the organizers for the opportunity to pitch in, many saying they would like to do it every year.”

Said Dooley Disposal Services via Facebook: “I'm pretty sure we got the whole town - lots of volunteers made this all possible. We live here, we love this town – [Saturday] was awesome. These volunteers swept this town and came back for more - in this heat! They didn't want to stop. … We love this town!”