City of Pawtucket Celebrates Successful 2023-2024 Youth to Senior Snow Shoveling Program
PAWTUCKET – As the winter season draws to a close, Pawtucket celebrates the success of its Youth to Senior Snow Shoveling program, which provided crucial assistance to residents throughout the colder months. The initiative, spearheaded by Mayor Donald R. Grebien, Chief Equity Officer Charles “Chachi” Carvalho, Mary Lou Moran, Director of the Leon Mathieu Senior Center, and Herb Weiss, Deputy Director of the Senior Center, demonstrated an exceptional collaboration between youth volunteers and senior residents, resulting in the shoveling of over 100 homes after snowstorms within the City of Pawtucket.
“The Youth to Senior Snow Shoveling program exemplifies the strength of community collaboration,” said Mayor Donald R. Grebien, “it not only addresses the practical needs of our seniors during winter but also creates an intergenerational connection amongst our youth and senior citizens. We remain committed to prioritizing the needs of all residents.”
Carvalho highlighted the remarkable success achieved by our dedicated volunteers. “I cannot express enough how grateful I am to all the volunteers,” he said, “on behalf of the City, I am immensely proud of every student who participated.”
The success of this initiative was made possible thanks to the invaluable support of our community partners. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the following program sponsors for their contribution: DoorDash, for providing incentives to the youth volunteers; The Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation, which generously donated a hundred shovels and pairs of gloves to the student participants; and Mirror Image Inc., for designing and printing exclusive “Pawtucket Shovel Crew” hoodies that prominently featured all sponsors.
“When the city reached out to tell us about the program we knew we had to be part of it,” said David Sarlitto, the Executive Director of Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation, “It’s a terrific way to bring together the City’s students and seniors in a program where everyone’s a winner. Kudos to Pawtucket for being so creative!”
Several seniors shared their positive experiences with the program, showcasing its impact on the community. Robert Shook, an Oakhill resident, exemplified the importance of the program, calling it “a great resource for seniors, especially for those like me who are handicapped.” David M. Borek, a 76-year-old retired Pawtucket Police Officer residing in the Darlington neighborhood, commended the dedication of the volunteers. Praising Dara Diop, a 16-year-old Tolman High School student, Borek said “He was marvelous and did a quality job removing the snow from my sidewalk, ramp, and steps to my house.”
The City of Pawtucket extends its heartfelt gratitude to all participants, partners, and volunteers for making the Youth to Senior Snow Shoveling program a success.
