Fairhaven Trash Pile Removed Thanks to Volunteers

Faith in humanity was restored in the town of Fairhaven over the weekend as 14 volunteers gathered around the waterfront to clean up and remove a giant trash pile.

A couple of weeks ago, Gary Lavalette, a board member of the town's conservation department, was walking along the shoreline of the Acushnet River in Fairhaven. He had stumbled across a giant pile of trash that had washed up onshore and was endangering the local wildlife habitat and polluting the waters.

Disgusted and outraged, he called upon the town for help and his word was heard. A group of locals met up with Lavalette on Saturday to clean up the waterfront on Tabor Street with gloves, metal rakes and trash bags.

"Fourteen volunteers showed up and in just three hours, we cleaned shoreline," Lavalette told Fun 107. "We collected 52 bags of trash including buckets, gloves, rope and Styrofoam. A salute to the volunteers."

Lavalette started cleaning up on March 4 to get the project rolling and the B.P.W. of Fairhaven had taken a dump truck full of trash. Even with that much accomplished, there was still much to do; that's where the volunteers came forth to comb over the sand and the shoreline.

"This was all debris that washed up on the shore from New Bedford and Fairhaven," Lavalette said. "A lot of the trash looked like it came from the fishing industry.

After a vigorous cleaning, the Tabor Street shoreline is back to normal with a job well done by all who helped.

"I could not do it alone," Lavalette said. "Mary Lou from The Solution to Pollution crew did most of the work and I'm grateful for everyone who came out."