Friday, November 6, 2026
In one hour, volunteers pulled roughly 60 pounds of litter from the paths along the stream at Valley Stream State Park.
The cleanup last week, run by the village’s Beautification Committee with volunteers from Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, was one of dozens the group holds each year.
“We try to just show the impact you can do in just an hour,” said Cathryn Natoli, who co-chairs the committee with Chris Kelly.
The committee took shape around 2018, when Dave Sabatino, who works for the village, began gathering residents to help with the kind of upkeep that falls outside the village’s day-to-day work. Early projects included plantings, a push for a community garden and new trees at Arlington Park.
Natoli and Kelly took over the litter pickups around 2022, after the volunteer who had been running them moved away. Kelly, a retired teacher, was already picking up trash while walking her dog, and Natoli said that habit inspired her to do the same.
As for Sabatino, Kelly said, “He stepped back and pushed us forward.”
Today the group holds 30 to 40 cleanups a year: about two a month, more in warm weather and fewer in winter. A typical outing lasts an hour and brings in anywhere from 40 to 200 pounds of trash.
“The litter pickups are just the cheapest, easiest thing to do to get people together and to make a very quick, small impact,” Natoli said.
Volunteers focus on high-traffic spots like train stations, bus stops and the stretches of Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road that drivers see first. Natoli said that matters in a village that often gets a bad rap from outsiders.
“People call us Valley Queens,” she said, and not as a compliment. “We want people to be proud of the town.”
The work also protects the water. Kelly said the stream runs from Franklin Square through the state park, Hendrickson Park, Cahill Park and Mill Brook before emptying into Jamaica Bay. Litter that washes into storm drains ends up in streams that are home to wildlife, a lesson the committee tries to teach, especially to students. At the state park, staff point volunteers toward problem areas, and sometimes members pull on waders and step right into the water.
Nobody has to sign up. Students earning service hours, scouts, church groups, local businesses and residents on the group’s email list simply show up. Some students keep coming back even after they graduate.
Kelly recalled a recent cleanup when it rained the entire time.
“I said to Kat, ‘Kat, it’s going to just be me and you,’” she said. Then the cars started pulling in. About 25 people came.
“It’s really Kat and I just organize it,” Kelly said. “It’s the community volunteers that get the job done.”
The committee has two cleanups planned for November, with more to follow through the winter. Dates are posted on its Facebook and Instagram pages and sent to its email list.
“Come out once a year, come out 10 times a year,” Kelly said. “Come with your kids, come with your family, come by yourself if you just want to enjoy the outdoors and do some good.”
