A group of 30 people organized by Dawn Nardi of the Flint Neighborhood Association and Flint Park Advocates volunteered on a Sunday morning, July 10, 2011, to clean up a large portion of Father Travassos Park in the Flint Neighborhood that was badly in need of improvement. Over thirty yards of trash and debris were collected. Much of the area had been used to dump brush, trash and even large pieces of concrete rather than take them to the City Garage on Lewiston Street. "The basketball court looks so much better," commented volunteer Cathy Ann Viveiros, "once all of the grass that was growing through the cracks was removed." The park provides a safe area for recreation among large numbers of youth from the nearby neighborhood as well as a place for soccer and other team sports throughout the year. Click here for photos of the clean-up along Plymouth Avenue, and here for photos of the clean-up at Cook Pond earlier in the year. For more information about the Neighborhood Associations, contact Perry Long at Government Center at 508-676-0324. (Some photos courtesy of Dawn Nardi) 

(Top row, left) Rose Lapointe, President of the Father Kelly Neighborhood Association, pitches in with a rake to begin clearing debris dumped at the side of the park. (Top row, center) Eight-year-old Corey Cuvellier wields a pair of hedge clippers to cut back the overgrowth along the fence as his father, Matt Cuvellier, and volunteer Derek Proulx watch. (Top row, right) Brenda Barbosa and her son, Mario Ferreira, get ready to pick up trash as Mary Vasconcellos and Allyjah Cutts work in the background. (Middle row, left) Copicut Neighborhood Association president Sarah Davis Riley and clean-up organizer Dawn Nardi begin to pull what turns out to be a large tree stump that requires help from the whole crew, including Ron Cabral and Natalie Melo. (Middle row, center) Nick Griffin of LuLu's Lemonade was on hand to prepare freshly squeezed lemonade for all of the volunteers. (Bottom row, left and center)  Russell Desbiens and City DPW worker Marco DeSousa use the city truck to haul away some of the debris, including large pieces of concrete dumped at the side of the park. (Bottom row, right) Fall River Police Officers John Lapointe, Mike Malek, Bill Medeiros and Bob Canito volunteer their time on Sunday morning to make sure the park is in tip top shape before they leave.