“The weather was amazing and so was the turnout,” said Mike Hodkin of the Fredonia police, who organized the event. “We had college sororities, fraternities, sports teams from the college, high school and at the youth level. Several church groups showed up, Fredonia Learn and Serve and so many awesome people.”

Hodkin continued, “It wasn’t just groups that helped, some middle-aged empty nest couples participated. Some parents brought their youth and other individual people showed up alone to help. Every single person did amazing.”

Hodkin added, “Last year was our first voyage with this and there was so much garbage collected. It was evident this year that we were only tackling a year’s worth of trash.”

Organizers spoke to the group before it broke up into assigned “precincts.” Hodkin noted, “This includes a safety advisory in the event they find any dangerous items, such as needles or ‘meth pots.'”

A group photo of the volunteers at Fredonia’s Community Cleanup.

Unfortunately, the advisory proved to be necessary.

“Our volunteers combined to secure a used glass crack pipe, three needles and a small bag of marijuana,” Hodkin said. “It feels good to get these items off the streets. Fredonia Police Department encourages anyone who finds such an item to contact police headquarters at 679-1531 and the police can recover and dispose of them properly.”

Hodkin encourages everyone to check out the “Community Cleanup” photos on the “Village of Fredonia Police Department” Facebook page.