Volunteers to clean Central Islip streets

Volunteers in the first Central Islip Clean Streets cleanup effort last year hauled off almost two tons of trash. This year, organizers are hoping to pick up even more litter.

Spawned from the Brentwood Clean Streets Committee, the Central Islip movement rallies community members each year for one day of beautification in the hamlet. The second Central Islip cleanup will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to around 2 p.m.

Renee Ortiz, a co-chair of the Clean Streets Committee, said more than 200 people volunteered last year. "In light of Father's Day, we're hoping fathers and their children will come out to volunteer," Ortiz said.

Since the birth of the Clean Streets Committee in 2010, the event has grown in popularity and sponsors: the Town of Islip donates cleaning supplies and claws to pick up the trash, National Waste Services lends Dumpsters to the effort, Suffolk Transportation Services buses volunteers from site to site and this year, the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association will provide lunch.

"We have to take ownership of our own communities, and show pride in our communities too," Ortiz said. "That's why an event like this is so important, and a good example for our kids."

Clean Streets Committee co-founder Marcos Maldonado said this is the seventh major beautification effort in Central Islip and Brentwood since 2010. "There are people who would tell you that in 2010 this community was lost," Maldonado said. "This is a celebration of community . . . We've painted over 300 fences with graffiti on them and removed over eight tons of trash off the street."

Clean Streets volunteers will meet to register Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Central Islip Recreation Center, 555 Clayton St.