Cub scouts of Pack 160 dig trenches at Hillside Park.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Volunteers paint picnic tables at the pavilion. From left are Denise Bennett, of Clarks Summit, with her daughter Grace, and mother-in-law Janet.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Rob Saunders, board member of the Abington Area Joint Recreation Board, cooks burgers for the volunteers.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Marjorie Berman (left) and Daniel Swartz, both of Clarks Summit, spread mulch on the Abington Community Garden.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Greg Russick, left, and Christopher Schmidt, both of Clarks Summit, repair a slide at Hillside Park.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
CLARKS SUMMIT — In honor of Earth Day, Hillside Park had its second annual Spring Cleanup on Saturday, April 23.
Over 200 volunteers worked hard to keep the park clean and ready especially for summer events returning this year, such as the Lakeside Concert Series and the Forever Young Fishing Derby in June.
It was a bigger turnout than last year.
“This year, we got a little more together on it,” said board member of the Abington Area Joint Recreation Board member Rob Saunders, who cooked burgers for the volunteers. “The park is as good as the community, and we got a great community here and great volunteers.”
Five municipalities (Clarks Summit, South Abington Township, Clarks Green, Waverly, and Glenburn) support the rec board, who in turn look for volunteers. Three council members are appointed from each municipality to serve on the rec board. Mark Spatz, co-chair of the board and representative of South Abington Township, said that the council members all point out the volunteers to the right direction to help with the park. He organized volunteers to paint the benches near the pavilion. \
A few of the volunteers for this task included the family of girl scout of Troop 50800 Faith Bennett, who is in the process of building a labyrinth off of lakeside trail for her Gold Award project.
According to Faith’s mother, Denise Bennett, who did a touchup on the tables with her younger daughter Grace and mother-in-law Janet, the labyrinth will be a place for park visitors walking around Eston Wilson lake to stop in order to reflect and meditate. It will have park benches and an informational sign.
“I think it’s going to be a great addition to our community,” said Denise. “People are looking forward to it. The whole part of a labyrinth is to make our minds stronger, especially coming from a pandemic.”
Grace, who is from Troop 50797 will be making a reflection pathway, which will lead to the labyrinth, for her Silver Award project. It will honor the people we lost in the community. People can purchase memorial pavers. They can contact Denise at denisebennett@frontier.com. There was a groundbreaking for the labyrinth project the day before the spring cleanup. Denise is looking forward to both of her daughters’ projects.
“I’m very proud of what they did, especially during the pandemic,” she said.
Cub scouts of Pack 160 and boy scouts of Troop 160 participated in this year’s cleanup. The younger cub scouts picked up trash and cleared sticks and branch clippings from trails around the park including Wilderness Trail and Dog Park Trail. The older boy scouts dug gravel out of channels to protect the drainage pipes. They were led by cubmaster Josh Mitchell, who is representing Clarks Summit for the rec board. The scouts also cleaned bird boxes and fixed chicken wire at the Abington Community Garden.
Other volunteers placed mulch at the garden and picked up trash on the side of Winola Road.
Carolyn Crowley, who has been on the rec board for 14 years, helped and supervised volunteers and helped prepare the garden for the vegetables to grow in the summer, such as peas, onions, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and butternut squash.
“It kind of looks empty and brown right now, but in August, it’s beautiful and green,” she said.
The garden has two cleanups each year — one in the spring and one in the fall. During the summer, master gardeners come and give people tips for the beginner gardeners. People purchase a plot at the garden and choose which flowers or vegetables they grow in it.
Clarks Summit residents Marjorie Berman and Daniel Swartz prepared their plots for the growing season. They grow flowers, artichokes, sorrel, ground cherries, and a Japanese herb called shiso. They also donate some of their produce to Friends of the Poor.
What Marjorie likes about gardening is getting to know her neighbors. “The garden has people from all different backgrounds, nationalities, religion, (and) political views,” she said. Daniel finds gardening to be therapeutic and good for the soul. He likes the fact that gardening doesn’t require perfection.
“Nothing ever turns out the way you think it is,” he said. “You’re sharing everything you grow with the insects and the birds, and that’s OK.”
