WOONSOCKET PICKERS
Local woman launches anti-litter campaign
NORTH SMITHFIELD – Sara Gilkenson, a cashier at the Walgreens on Eddie Dowling Highway in North Smithfield, is taking her message of corporate social responsibility on the road.
Gilkenson has assembled a team of Walgreens employees from other area stores to help clean up the grounds outside the Walgreens store on Social Street in Woonsocket.
The team of eight will depart on foot from the North Smithfield store at 10 a.m. Sunday for the three-mile, 45minute walk to the Woonsocket store, located at the intersection of Social Street and Cumberland Street (Social Corner) and one of the city’s busiest intersections.
The intersection is a dumping ground for tossed cigarette butts and other debris that tends to build up on the sidewalks and in the parking lot outside the Walgreens, which is nearly in the middle of the intersection. The problem can get so bad that it recently became fodder on social media where some observers were lamenting the scope of the cigarette butt litter.
Gilkenson, a 21-year-old senior at Bryant University and a Walgreens cashier in North Smithfield since she was 17, came up with idea of helping clean up the area as part of her Walgreens’ community management internship program project. The program helps equip interns to become
Walgreens store managers.
“I thought it would be nice to help out our sister store in Woonsocket,” says Gilkenson. “They do what they can to keep up with the cleaning, but I thought we could lend a hand.”
Gilkenson and her team will walk to the Woonsocket store at 45 Cumberland St. where they will spend as much time as needed to clean the area then make their way back to 180 Eddie Dowling Highway in North Smithfield, picking up litter along the way on Clinton Street, Hamlet Avenue, Green Street, Park Avenue and Eddie Dowling Highway.
While in Woonsocket, the city’s Department of Public works has agreed to equip the team with trash pickers to make the job easier.
Gilkenson, who grew up in Pawtucket, will graduate from Bryant next year with a degree in management, Spanish and sociology. Her short-term goal is to become a Walgreens store manager, which she is hoping to achieve through the community management internship program.
As part of the program interns work with experienced store managers on everything from operations and management responsibilities to merchandising and advertising. And at the end of 10 weeks, interns have the real-world experience they need to succeed in the Walgreens retail environment and beyond.
Gilkenson says she is using her intern experience and project to highlight Walgreens’ efforts to support people and the planet.
“It’s something I think is important personally and I’m excited to be working for a company that shares the same values,” she said.