We celebrated the 51st anniversary of Green Up Day in Weston on Saturday, April 26, 2025. The Kiwanis Club of Weston played an early and continuing role in Weston Green Up Day observances, and Kiwanis is now the lead organization in Weston.

Saturday afternoon, Tom Failla delivered eight lawn bags full at the transfer station: one collected by Dan and Luke Lerner from Weston Road, two by Girl Scout Daisies at town hall, and five by the Weston Cub Scout pack at Bisceglie-Scribner Park. Tom Watson took care of his bags from Georgetown Road. Lisa Brodlie’s neighbors took care of Birch Hill and Alwyn. This is before checking Greenfield.

Immediate Past-president Amy Jenner, although not in Weston this weekend, extended Kiwanis participation in the spirit of Green Up Day to Wickford, Rhode Island, her current domicile. Amy and colleagues from Historic Wickford, a “USA Today” best historic small town, collected 2,000 pounds on a one-mile section of the Post Road.

Photographs contributed by Dan Lerner, Tom Failla, and Amy Jenner. View the Green Up Day 2025 album here.

Earlier, Tom Failla set up Eversource representative(s) outside our breakfast meeting venue at Norfield Congregational Church parish hall around 8:30 a.m. to distribute trees and shrubs to participants in the Green Up Day litter collection. The utility has provided a variety of trees and shrubs, including white and pink dogwood, sweet bay magnolia, Okemo and other cherries, viburnums, witch hazel, and spice bush. Lawn bags were available for the green-up clean-up after the meeting.

Weston Girl Scouts arrived around 9 a.m.

At breakfast, we honored Millie Best. Millie brought Green Up Day to Weston, and with Weston Kiwanis members, State Representative John Stripp, and State Senator Judi Freedman, worked to make the last Saturday in April a statewide event after the passage of Public Act 95-67 in 1995.

The act requires the Governor of the state of Connecticut to proclaim the last Saturday in April “Green Up Day,” to encourage people to clean up their communities, plant trees and flowers, and enhance the physical beauty of the state’s communities and countryside.

Weston’s first and many subsequent Green Up Days were led (until her death) by the late Millie Best and supported by her associate Mila Grieb. Millie was inspired by volunteer efforts to clean up trash along Vermont’s roads.

Weston Kiwanis has worked for decades to promote and organize Green Up Day, collaborating with Millie and Mila, as well as scores of volunteers from schools, neighborhood groups, the Scouts, the Weston Garden Club, and many other organizations.

Since 2005, the Kiwanis Club of Weston has presented the annual Millie Best Environmental Award, “Honoring Her Establishment and Continuance of Green Up Day,” to volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to the environment. Their names and years of service are added to the award plaques in Weston Town Hall. The 2025 awardee will be recognized at a future meeting.

Green Up Day efforts have helped maintain Weston’s pristine natural beauty for the enjoyment of its residents, visitors, and future generations.