Help Wanted: RSA Looking for Volunteers to Clean Vets Field

[Editor's note: Update at 6:10 p.m. on Sunday. Approximately 250 volunteers were at Vets with rakes, blowers, bags and other items. They've already cleaned some of the northern portions of Vets Field and have made remarkable progress in clearing debris. Organizers said they'd like to express a sincere thanks for the massive and unexpected volunteerism displayed on Sunday.]

With a loss of the two high school fields and the two primary village fields from Hurricane Irene, sports groups have been scrambling to reschedule games and make due with what they have. One group is hoping the community will help with cleanup efforts on Sunday, September 11.

Vets, Maple, RHS Stadium and Stevens are all out of commission, with the exception of a small field on Vets for youth soccer. Some fields–like Vets–are expected to be reopened in roughly a week, while others are still TBD. 

Some sports groups, however, are wasting no time in cleaning up the mess of soot, debris and muck from the fields to get their programs underway. According to an e-mail obtained by Patch, the Ridgewood Soccer Association (RSA) sent an "urgent" request to parents asking them to volunteer and rake the soccer fields on Sunday, September 11 at 4:00 p.m.

The RSA hopes to use the fields for its weekday training clinics on Monday, September 19, as the upcoming week's will be relocated to other fields.

"The President has declared Sunday a national day of service. This project provides us with the opportunity to give back to our community in a way that will directly benefit our children," the RSA said in the e-mail. "Please come over to Vets and join us if you can, even if you can spare only 30 minutes of your time." 

The sports association is asking volunteers to bring rakes, gas powered blowers (and gas cans), gloves, tarps, garbage bags or brown recycling bags, drinks, as well as a "sense of community."

High school sport teams have been playing home games away from Ridgewood due to the condition of Stevens and Stadium fields. The district has not yet disclosed the cleanup cost to the fields, nor when–or if–its fields will re-open this season.

The school board recently granted a request by the Fields Committee to open up several of the district-owned fields (Brookside, Somerville, Kenilworth and Willard) to lighting as a way to alleviate pressure on the grab for fields. The Fields Committee also requested the council do the same at Lower Hawes and Citizen's Park.

While the board of education's ruling allows groups to keep lights on at their alternate sites for up to 12 weeks, the council said Wednesday night it would like to keep a closer hold on things.

It is expected to pass a resolution next week allowing the lighted use of Hawes and Citizens for two-to-three weeks, until Veterans is back on track and they have a clearer sense of the conditions.