On Sunday, May 18 nearly 100 members of Holley CSD’s Interact and EarlyAct clubs braved the rain and successfully led their fifth annual Clean Sweep service project. With support from Holley CSD staff, Holley Rotarians and community members, volunteers split up and picked up litter throughout the village and the Holley Canal Park and pathway, cleaned headstones at Hillside Cemetery, and restored the Vietnam War Memorial at the Holley VFW.
The Clean Sweep event is planned in conjunction with the Parks & Trails New York annual state-wide Earth Day Canal Clean Sweep. This is the first year that they have partnered with the VFW to include the restoration project as part of the clean-up tasks. The memorial initially was installed in 2009 as part of an Eagle Scout project led by Dylan Lotzow. Just in time for Memorial Day, volunteers were able to help restore its beauty by removing weeds, sweeping debris, painting, resetting more than 500 bricks, and mulching the perimeter.
This is the seventh year that the club has partnered with Clarendon Town Historian Melissa Ierlan to clean headstones at Hillside Cemetry and honor the generations of local residents who have been buried there since 1866. The cemetery clean-up is historically a fall project but due to a weather postponement, it was included in the Clean Sweep this year.
Holley Middle/High School implemented Interact Club in 2017. It is offered to students in grades 7-12 interested in volunteering. Interact is the largest club in the school with over 70 active members. They participate in multiple service projects throughout the year, including Parks & Trails New York Adopt-a-Trail program, assembling bagged lunches for Rochester Open Door Mission, preparing and serving meals at Orleans Koinonia Kitchen and more. Inspired by Interact, Holley Elementary School launched EarlyAct Club in 2023 where fourth, fifth and sixth graders can learn about their community and participate in service projects, including assembling homeless necessity bags, assembling goody bags for active military members and patients at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Both clubs are sponsored by Holley Rotary Club.
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