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Community Corner

Volunteers Make Push for 'Pride'

The Wyckoff civic organization Partners in Pride looks to expand its efforts as the summer approaches.

Ever wondered where the flowers along Wyckoff streets come from? Your tax dollars don't pay for them.

Rather, an all-volunteer civic association named Partners in Pride (PIP) works throughout the year to plant and keep the roadside fauna pristine; and as the summer approaches, they’re making a push to ensure the plants don’t perish in the heat.

Started in 1987, PIP has been planting and organizing litter cleanups in conjunction with the town for over two decades. A handful of residents formed the group because they were “concerned about the unsightliness of the town due to litter.”

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“We care about what our town looks like, and where we live,” says the organization’s president Jill Rousseau, who became involved in 1997.

PIP organizes two litter cleanup days a year, and held an annual planting day last month, where they added flowers to the five gardens and 55 planting pots that they maintain around the township.

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The volunteers are the lifeblood of the organization. Most of their flowers have been donated by local merchants, and the landscaping is done for free by members. According to Rousseau, the group has only held three fundraisers in its 26-year history.

The greatest task, she says, comes in the summers months, when droughts and heat make the volunteers’ job of keeping up on watering the town-wide flower installations all the more vital.

Helped in their push by the town, which has advertised their plea for volunteers in the last several months, the group’s manpower has just about doubled from an average year, and this year is hovering around 40 members.

“This plea put out by [township administrator] Bob Shannon has really brought in a lot of new people,” Rousseau says.

But, she adds, the group can still use more members to distribute the burden of upkeep on the plants scattered around the township, and take an active interest in beautifying their community.

To volunteer, contact Rousseau at Jbuddr1@aol.com or 201-891-4231.

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