(PAWTUCKET RI) -- Over 110 volunteers contributed 500-plus volunteer hours during the 14th Annual Pawtucket Proud Day on Thursday, June 8, 2017. The event annually brings together the City's business, nonprofit and resident communities to beautify and clean up public spaces, neighborhood parks and "gateways" of Pawtucket. Pawtucket Proud Day volunteers include local residents, City employees, Pawtucket Foundation board members,  and teams from the following businesses: Bristol County Savings Bank, Collette, Fuss & O'Neill, Inc., Navigant Credit Union, NC3, Pawtucket Credit Union, Pawtucket Central Falls Development, Washington Trust Bank.

"It was a gorgeous spring day -- we had fun. The pride people have in their city was evidenced in their hard work today. This shows that it is not just the big projects, but all the smaller ones, too, that make a city thrive," commented Jan Brodie, Executive Director, Pawtucket Foundation.

BUSINESSES CONTRIBUTE TO COMMUNITY CLEAN-UP

Christine Sullivan, Development Director of the Pawtucket Foundation, welcomed volunteers at the the event's kick-off at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Thursday morning. Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien also welcomed participants and thanked them for their ongoing help in continuing to care for and improve Pawtucket. The Departments of Planning and Public Works helped the Pawtucket Foundation in preparing project sites and played an integral role in supplying materials, equipment, and labor.

"Great public private partnering happened today with teams from Navigant, Collette, Bristol County, Riverfront Lofts and others, working alongside the DPW crew," states Ms. Brodie. "The city got a little more beautiful and the people who work and live in Pawtucket helped to make that happen."   

PROJECT IMPACTS

Participants fanned out to project work sites with gloves and tools in hand. Volunteer teams were assigned to 8 main projects for Pawtucket Proud Day 2017. Participants replanted Main Street planters and Grow Boxes with new herbs and flowers, picked up trash, and cleaned the sidewalks. The section of Taft Street under the Division Street and I-95 bridges engaged volunteers in picking up trash,  pulling weeds, planting and mulching existing flower beds. A work crew, joined by residents of Riverfront Lofts, helped to beautify the section of bike path behind City Hall by weeding, spreading mulch and picking up debris. Several teams also worked in Wilkinson Park and spruced up the Leon Mathieu Senior Center garden -- weeding, edging and mulching beds, cleaning up trash and planting flowers. Tree wells along Armistice Boulevard, Broadway and its parking areas were weeded, mulched, and debris removed. A volunteer team helped clean up trash, debris and weeds near the site of a new PCF Development building on Branch Street.

GOLDEN BUCKET AWARDED

After projects wrapped up for the day, volunteers enjoyed lunch, sponsored by the Pawtucket Rotary Club, prepared by the Exchange Street Cafe. The prestigious rotating Golden Bucket Award was bestowed upon Navigant Credit Union for their outstanding accomplishments on and beyond Pawtucket Proud Day. The winning company of this special recognition gets to keep the gleaming Golden Bucket to proudly display until it is returned and awarded to a new outstanding volunteer or work team at next year's Pawtucket Proud Day.

The annual Pawtucket Proud Day event was originally conceived by Collette CEO and Pawtucket Foundation Co-Chair, Daniel J. Sullivan, as a way of demonstrating the commitment of the local business community to the revitalization of Pawtucket.

Photos of the event can be found the Pawtucket Foundation Facebook Page [at http://www.facebook.com/pawtucketfoundation/ ] or on their Instagram account, @PawtFnd.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Pawtucket Foundation is grateful for the generous financial and in-kind support of Pawtucket Proud Day by the community. The 2017 Pawtucket Proud Day sponsors are: TD Bank, Bristol County Savings Bank, National Grid, Pamela Hughes, Collette, Klibanoff Eye Associates, Leshinsky Finance, Navigant Credit Union, Kenneth Gould, and Joan Hausrath. In-kind support is appreciated from: Central Nurseries, Citizens Ice Company, City of Pawtucket, Dunkin Donuts East Avenue, Rotary Club of Pawtucket, and St. Pauls' Episcopal Church.

ABOUT THE PAWTUCKET FOUNDATION: 

The Pawtucket Foundation represents the business and not-for-profit sector as an advocate and catalyst for downtown, riverfront and transportation gateway enhancements within the City of Pawtucket. pawtucketfoundation.com

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For more information about The Pawtucket Foundation, call (401) 725-4400, email info@pawtucketfoundation.org or visit online at www.pawtucketfoundation.org.