HAVERHILL — Whether it will be called Brightside or something else, when the city holds its fifth annual Spring Cleanup Day on April 25, Haverhill will have a new volunteer cleanup and civic beautification program led by a part-time coordinator.
Trinity EMS, which contracts with Haverhill for ambulance services, has committed $5,200 in seed money to help launch and sustain the program for at least one year.
"We have donated to Brightside in the past and we're happy to help out again," said John Chemaly, president of Trinity EMS.
Mayor James Fiorentini, who announced his intentions to introduce a community volunteer corps earlier this year, said he plans to use Trinity's donation to pay a part-time coordinator a weekly stipend of $100.
"I think it's very critical now that we mobilize as many people as we can to keep our city beautiful," Fiorentini said. "The city can't do it all itself. No city can in these tough budget times."
Whether its a group of Boy or Girl Scouts looking to plant flowers, or an individual or neighborhood group that wants pick up litter, the mayor said everyone will have a person they can call for advice and support in their beautification efforts from city departments.
For years, Earth Day cleanups and beautification activities throughout Haverhill were coordinated by Brightside.
The mayor said he plans to meet with Brightside's board to see if the name that became so familiar among legions of volunteers across the city can be linked to the new volunteer program being introduced.
"I see it as an extension of Brightside, and the very first task will be to organize the spring cleanup," Fiorentini said.
Local businesswoman Elaine Barker founded Brightside in 1994 with volunteers, but a year later it mushroomed and the city hired Denise Johnson to direct the program. Johnson's Brightside volunteers regularly cleaned city parks the program had adopted, planted tulips around signs honoring veterans and took part in other green activities.
In 2002 Johnson's position was cut during a city budget crisis, and for several years her $25,000 annual salary was paid through grants and donations. Johnson left Brightside in 2006 and is now a constituent services representative for Congresswoman Niki Tsongas.
She said she is still passionate about Brightside and that with President Barak Obama encouraging people to get involved in community service projects, this is the right time for Haverhill to have someone coordinating beautification and cleanup events.
"It is exciting and different, and it's something the city needs," Johnson said. "If people know there is a person they can call and coordinate a cleanup, it really makes all the difference in the world."
Johnson said a program coordinator, even a part-time one as the mayor has indicated, can be the link between neighborhoods and the city.
"Thinking about the mayor's goal, a liaison is an important thing to have," she said. "If you don't have that, or promote this kind of program, who would people call and how would things get done?"
In the last six or seven years, Trinity EMS has donated well over $100,000 to Haverhill charities, veterans programs, education, youth sports organizations, community programs and events. Last week, Trinity donated a used box-style ambulance to the city's Fire Department for various uses, including arson investigations.
Christopher Dick, business development director for Trinity, said company President John Chemaly and Trinity Vice President Gary Sepe believe in giving back to the communities they serve.
"It's what John and Gary live by and how they've grown their company," he said. "They feel they've been blessed by the success of Trinity."
Johnson said the part-time coordinator will likely need the support of a volunteer board of directors to help raise money and apply for grants.
"It's a hard thing for one person to do," she said.
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