Students, volunteers show they CARE

Fourth annual Pottstown CARES event puts 700-plus volunteers to work

Gary Eckert received a very unexpected birthday present Friday.

He stepped out the front door 53 King St. to discover a passel of teenagers cleaning his sidewalk and raking his leaves.

“This is wonderful,” he said with a big smile on his face.

“To come out and see these kids cleaning up the leaves, to come out here and see them working as a team, it’s an amazing day,” said Eckert.

Scenes like that were happening all over the borough Friday as the fourth annual Pottstown CARES Day quite literally swept through the town.

A joint effort of the borough, The Hill School, Pottstown School District, Montgomery County Community College, the TriCounty Chamber of Commerce and Lowe’s, Pottstown CARES Day has taken what Make a Difference Day used to do, and expanded on it.

In case you were wondering, CARES is an acronym for Community, Awareness, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Sustainability.

Certainly the most visible manifestation of the half-day cleanup were the safety vested students from the three schools armed with rakes, leaf bags, shovels and moxie cleaning up throughout the core neighborhood.

They were comprised of all 522 Hill School students, about 50 Pottstown High School students as well as those from the community college.

But there were other efforts as well.

Inside the Pottstown Regional Public Library, now under an interior renovation, students dusted off the books on the mezzanine level which will be handicapped accessible when the work is done.

At 430 Walnut St., students partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County’s “Brush with Kindness” program and lent a hand in the house that will soon be home to Norristown resident Kayann Thompson, her husband, mother and five children.

Hydroponic towers at the Pottstown High School and Hill School greenhouses were also tended during PottstownCARES Day.

The indoor tower gardens, which do not require soil, were built and installed last year by Hill robotics and “Eco Action” students with assistance from Pottstown High School CARES volunteers, Pottstown Middle School students, and Ricketts Center volunteers, with assistance from Lowe’s.

And on High Street, student volunteers wrapped the nearly 500 candies and chocolates made by Kristen Sirbak, owner of Beverly’s Pastry.

The treats were made to be given out at the YMCA SafeHouse Trick or Treat.

“I was up all night last night until I ran out of chocolate,” a very tired Sirback said with a laugh.

“I had to get up at 4:30 this morning to have the rest ready,” she said with a yawn, but being sure to add her thanks to her sister, Jamie Wasniewski, for her early morning help.

“This is my fourth year doing it and I feel like its a great initiative to support the town,” say Esheeta Sharma, a 17-year-old Hill School student, who was cleaning the sidewalks in the 300 block of Chestnut Street.

“We should help any way we can. I mean it’s one day a year, but I think it makes a difference,” she said.

“I think PottstownCARES is a great thing because it joins students and faculty from The Hill with Pottstown as well and come together and held the community beautify itself,” said James Krick, 16, who was working the same street.

“I think its a great event because its how you actually get change done, when you get out and start helping in the community, said Sid Domala, a 16-year-old Hill student.

A little further down the street, a busting team of students was helping Mosaic Community Garden Director Laura Washington bed the garden down for the winter with a truck load of mulch donated by John Jermacans Style Landscaping in Skippack.

Jermacans was there on the truck himself, joined by Hill student Christian DeVol, 17, shoveling pitchforkfuls of mulch into a train of wheelbarrows being pushed by 14 students and staff.

The wheelbarrows were being dumped along the property line “so we can retain moisture and fortify the soil so we can plant some border plants and shrubs next year and they will have a good start,” said Washington.

“We are very thankful to all our helpers and if I was doing it myself, it would take a very long time,” said Washington. “We’re very excited and thankful and grateful to have the entire CARES team here.”

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A joint cleanup team of students from The Hill School and Pottstown High School tackled the leaves on King Street Friday for the Fourth Annual PottstownCARES Day.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA King Street was abuzz with rakes and shovels Friday as students from Pottstown High School, The Hill School and Montgomery County Community College joined forces for PottstownCARES Day.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Hill School students Rachel Schaaf, 17, and Calla Coothgenthe, 15, rake leaves in Pottstown’s Evans Street parking lot Friday during PottstownCARES Day.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA From left, Pottstown High School freshman Marleigh Rivers, was joined by sophomores Ireland Bray and Jen Hainsey cleaning up North York Street as management information systems teacher Dave Woodley vainly tried to hide behind a rake

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Kristen Sirbak, owner of Beverly’s Pastry, got up at 4:30 a.m. Friday to finish a batch of 500 chocolates to be given out during the YMCA’s Halloween Safehouse that night. The project was arranged by The Hill School for PottstownCARES Day.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HILL SCHOOL Three schools, three mascots: The Hill School Ram, the Montgomery County Community College Mustang and the Pottstown High School Trojan, ready to clean up the town together for PottstownCARES Day.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Moasic Community Garden manager Laura Washington and Michael Eze, 15, were part of the train of Hill School students moving mulch donated by John Jermacans Style of Skippack and shoveled by John and Christian DeVol, 17.