Students Clean Up Oyster Bay Road With Friends Of The Bay

OYSTER BAY, NY — Dozens of volunteers helped do some good in the community over the weekend.

The volunteers, including local students and a town official, spent Saturday morning with Friends of the Bay cleaning West Shore Road in Oyster Bay. Student volunteers came from Oyster Bay, Jericho and Syosset school districts, in addition to the Our Lady of Mercy Academy Ecology Club. Boy Scouts from Troop 170 in Syosset also helped out.

The effort was part of Friends of the Bay's monthly cleanup event. West Shore Road was a new site for the organization's cleanup efforts, which have taken place at Centre Island Beach, Beekman Beach and other locations in the past.

“The walkway along the bay has seen a great increase in pedestrian traffic as the pandemic began, with accompanying trash, so we thought it would be a great new place to send volunteers,” Friends of the Bay President Bill Bleyer said.

The community response was so strong that the organization had to cut off registrations once they hit 40 volunteers. Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino and staff from the Department of Environmental Resources also met with the volunteers Saturday to express their support and encouragement.

For information on future cleanups, community members can go to http://friendsofthebay.org or the organization's Facebook page.