NWBRV was excited to participate in a citywide Earth Day 2026 initiative alongside the City of Woonsocket from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22
Volunteers helped clean and enhance our city in a multitude of ways—including picking up litter, raking leaves, trimming bushes and participating in an overall spring cleanup throughout the Constitution Hill neighborhood. We were also thrilled to complete an initial planting of the Olo Street Orchard with students from Connecting Children & Families and Open fArm Retreat–building on our fantastic 2025 fall collaboration!
“The City of Woonsocket through the Solid Waste Department has always held community wide clean ups with varying degrees of participation each year,” Elizabeth Kerrigan, Superintendent Parks & Recreation and Solid Waste Coordinator shared. “We encourage residents and groups to pick a day and get out there and take ownership of a space whether a lot, a street, a park or their neighborhood! We feel the more a space is occupied by the good people of this community the less it is likely to be abused.”
Last Autumn, the Olo Street Orchard transformed into a vibrant, self-watering garden in the heart of Constitution Hill. Our partners at Open fArms Retreat jumped in to assist with the planning, implementation, and creation of the new self-watering beds. Their team worked hand in hand with NWBRV staff, offering agricultural expertise, guidance on the herb selection, and even the use of their tractor to help move the very heavy stone into the beds.
Home to many of NWBRV”s first housing apartments, the beloved Constitution Hill neighborhood and Olo Street Orchard benefitted greatly from the volunteers who came out to help. Following a particularly harsh winter, community members stepped up in a big way to prepare the neighborhood and orcahrd for the growing season ahead.
“As community volunteers network and become friends and work together on other projects, the more we all want to work together and do more projects – like this one for example! We currently have a great team of people and actual friends, who do all kinds of events and projects. They work and volunteer in a variety of agencies and groups and I think these connections and friendships help grow efforts like this and many others!
Elizabeth Kerrigan, Superintendent Parks & Recreation and Solid Waste Coordinator
NWBRV extends its sincere thanks to all of the volunteers, partners, and residents who contributed their time and energy to make Earth Day 2026 a success.
