SHARON BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION GEARS UP FOR INAUAGURAL ‘GETTING’ GRITTY 4 OUR CITY’ COMMUNITY-WIDE CLEAN UP ON SATURDAY, APRIL 22

CITY'S SHARON BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION GEARS UP FOR INAUAGURAL ‘GETTING’ GRITTY 4 OUR CITY’ COMMUNITY-WIDE CLEAN UP INITIATIVE RECOGNIZING EARTH DAY SATURDAY, APRIL 22

?VOLUNTEERS AND SHARON BUSINESSES CAN SIGN UP FOR CLEAN UPS OR DO SHARON CLEAN UP/BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS OF THEIR OWN

?SHARON BUSINESSES WILL ALSO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY WITH ‘GROW YOUR CITY’ SEED PACKET GIVEAWAY SPONSORED BY BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION, LOTS TO LOVE SHARON AND SHENANGO VALLEY GARDENERS CLUB

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SHARON_The City of Sharon announces an inaugural citywide beautification initiative that incorporates volunteers, businesses and organizations called ‘Getting’ Gritty 4 Our City’ and it kicks off on Earth Day, April 22. The beautification initiative was created to encourage the entire Sharon community to greatly impact the city which is going through a dynamic revitalization in its business district and its neighborhoods.?

“It’s a big year for what’s happening in the downtown area with new stores and restaurants and with a great deal of demolition work completed,” said Brian Kepple, who heads up the Sharon Beautification Commission. “We thought it was important to match those efforts in cleaning up our community with a citywide initiative.”

“Getting’ Gritty 4 Our City” one of the largest and most impactful project Sharon Beautification Commission has attempted is a six-week program that starts April 22nd with a Sharon City-Wide Litter cleanup including more than 100 volunteers covering the streets, sidewalks, and alleys of Sharon. Volunteers will be provided with an event T-shirt and all the supplies needed to work in their assigned areas. There will also be an educational component to the event along with student engagement opportunities to participate and learn via school activities. Lunch is sponsored by JCL Energy/JCL Development.

“We’ve seen a lot accomplished in the past 5 years,” said Geno Rossi, who was recently named Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator for the City of Sharon. “Now we are about maintaining and sustaining all that we have done during that time.”

He and Suzanne Kepple, Sharon’s Community Block Development Grant Manager, have been presenting during assemblies at the Sharon School District this week as they build up to Earth Day and the kickoff of the initiative. “We want to reach them when they are young, to realize they too can make a difference in their community,” said Ms. Kepple.

Then Saturday, volunteer registration will start at 8:30 AM in the parking lot behind the Buhl Community Recreation Center, 28 Pine Ave., Sharon and includes T-Shirts along with distribution of gloves and bags for litter collection. The goal is to collect bags of litter, tires, and televisions. There will also be tree planting on the West and East Hills. The trees were received via a grant from Tree Pennsylvania-PA Urban and Community Forestry Council, written by Sharon Beautification Commission corporate sponsor Insite Group, Sharon. The cleanup event will continue until noon with lunch provided afterwards.

The following weeks of this program will include scheduled beautification projects by businesses, groups and individuals with the Sharon Beautification Commission providing support as needed. The commission will also be organizing volunteer groups to clear brush and tree branches, mow yards/lots, remove dilapidated fencing, as well as make building repairs and offer curb appeal projects for those in need in the city.

Another significant project is the Downtown Hanging Flower Baskets and ground pots which have become a signature project of Sharon with more than 100 baskets hung in the downtown district and various neighborhoods which are hung the last Saturday in May. Volunteers can also participate in weekly neighborhood and business district specific cleanups on Monday evenings between March and November.

The latest project is the Sharon Residential Recognition Yard Sign program, where residents are nominated for having well maintained and landscaped yards and recognized with a sign placed in their yard. At 5:30 PM Thursday, April 27, the Sharon Beautification Commission will remember the late Bill Drosbaugh, a long-time commission member, dedicating a new River Gardens Park Informational Kiosk in his honor. Mulching and clean up of River Gardens Park will be held 9 AM Saturday, May 6 and is open to the public to volunteer. Finally, the last week of May will be Sharon Beautification Week with volunteer teams invited to sign up for 4-hour shifts to do various projects throughout the City of Sharon.

Shoppers in Sharon will also have an opportunity to participate with 'Grow Your Community' Seed Packet giveaway. Retail shops in Sharon will have seed packets to give out with store purchase starting on Saturday, April 22 to celebrate Earth Day! The seed packet giveaway is sponsored by Sharon Beautification Commission; Shenango Valley Gardener's Club & Lots to Love Sharon.

“Ultimately, the main goal of the Commission is to inspire Sharon residents and businesses, and the surrounding Shenango Valley, to be a part of improving the quality of life of the city, which is greatly impacted by the overall improved appearance of our community spaces through volunteerism,” said Kepple, adding that the commission was formed in 2005.

“Beautifying neighborhoods helps the neighborhoods, and their residents support downtown revitalization,” said Rossi. “We need both working together to create a vibrant community. That’s the whole point of what we are trying to do with this initiative – showcase what volunteerism, teamwork and beautification can create when they come together!”

For more information about getting involved, or your group or business – please contact Sharon Beautification Board Chair Brian Kepple at [email protected] or Neighborhood Development Coordinator Geno Rossi with the City’s Code Department at [email protected]

Signups for volunteer cleanup events and financial contributions to support the beautification of the city can be made via the Sharon Beautification Commission’s Facebook site as well as via mail at Sharon Beautification Commission c/o 611 S Irvine Ave., Sharon PA 16146.?Sponsorship forms for the 2023 Hanging Basket program are also available now. You can also follow them on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Sharon.Beautification.Commission