Volunteers needed to help clean-up downtown

You are invited to help The Rotary Club of Wayne, in the ninth annual City of Wayne Spring Clean-Up Day in downtown Wayne on Saturday, April 27th. Photo by Stan Shelton

By Sarah Shurge – “If you care about your community, you’ll want to come out and make it more beautiful than it already is,” said Carol Bevard, President of the Rotary Club of Wayne.
The Rotary Club of Wayne is an organization of individuals who live or work in Wayne and contribute their time, talents, and treasure to improve the quality of life in Wayne and around the world.
In recognition of Earth Day, the Rotary Club of Wayne, will be sponsoring the ninth annual City of Wayne Spring Clean-Up Day in downtown Wayne on Saturday, April 27th.
“This is about the community coming together for a greater cause,” said Bevard.
Community members of all ages are invited to give a couple hours of their time into tidying up the City of Wayne after the winter season has passed. Volunteers will be picking up trash, raking leaves, and sweeping sidewalks.
If you’d like to volunteer, just show up. Everyone will meet at Goudy Park. Instructions will be given around 8:45 a.m. and teams/groups will be sent to their designated clean-up areas at 9 a.m.

Volunteers will hit the streets to help clean-up Downtown Wayne on Saturday, April 27th. Photo by Stan Shelton

The Friends of the Rouge will also be included in the clean-up with clearing log jams in the Rouge River.
Many community businesses, organizations, and churches will be participating.
The final numbers for the April 2023 clean-up showed that over 6,000 pounds of debris was collected.
The Rotary Club and the Wayne Historical Society are also having an Old Wayne Cemetery clean-up on Sunday, April 28th, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Volunteers will be cleaning up the leaves and tree branches that have fallen.
“The history of Wayne is in that cemetery,” said Bevard. “When you know the history, you learn a lot about your community through the cemetery.”
Andrew Noland from Silent Cities Restoration will be conducting a workshop on how to properly clean old gravestones.
“We’re paying respect to the generations before us,” said Bevard. “We don’t want to destroy any graves, so proper cleaning of gravestones is critical to preserve history.”
The City of Wayne owns the Old Wayne Cemetery, so the Rotary Club had to get permission from the city to clean the gravestones. The City of Wayne was on board.
The City of Wayne Department of Public Works (DPW) will provide trash bags and people to collect trash on the curb. The Rotary is providing a few trash grabbers, so please bring your own if you have one.
“It’s important for the community to get involved in trying to beautify the city,” said Bevard. “When people get involved it makes them care, and it creates a better environment for people to live in.”
Bevard has served in the Rotary since 2019 and has held the title of Rotary President since October 2021.
The Wayne Rotary is also hosting a Free Community Shredding Day on Saturday, May 11th, at HYPE Athletics. It is open to the public for disposal of confidential documents to prevent identity theft. There is a maximum of five boxes, and there is a camera on the truck so you can see your documents being shredded. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Rotary Club of Wayne would like to say “thank you” to the community for supporting their For the Love of Music Project which just ended in March.
The Rotary Club collected new and used instruments for the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, had the instruments refurbished, and gave them to the music department for distribution to the students.
The Rotary collected 109 instruments and spent $8,493 to refurbish them. Of those 109 instruments, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) donated five violins, two violas, and two cellos.
The Rotary would like to thank John Mills from the Wayne Historical Society for telling the Rotary about the DSO giveaway violin program.
The Rotary Club is looking for more people to join. They meet every Tuesday at Noon in the Thomas Kelly Room in the Wayne Public Library.
If you are interested or looking for more information about the Rotary Club of Wayne, visit waynerotary.com, find them on Facebook or Instagram at “waynerotary”, or contact them at waynerotary@gmail.com.