SCRANTON, Pa. -- Now that a long season of tending to your lawn is winding down, you might be thinking it's time for a new lawnmower for next year. Before you put the old one out on the curb, you might consider donating it to help with the upkeep of some local trails.
"It's really a true asset that we have here in the valley. We just got to try and keep it clean," said Owen Worozbyt.
Worozbyt works with Lackawanna Heritage Valley, and he's one of the people responsible for organizing volunteer groups to help keep the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail Clean.
"The trail, annually, we have hundreds of thousands of people use this trail. There's a trail counter behind me. We get 120,000 hits a year on it."
Getting volunteers to help hasn't been a problem in recent years.
"Over the past three years, we've been getting a lot more people volunteering. I don't know what the reason is, but we're very thankful for it."
More volunteers mean less light-duty things to do, like picking up litter. Now, volunteers are getting into things like mowing grass and brush cutting.
"In order to do that, we need some power equipment. We do have some tools on hand. However, it'd be nicer if we had more tools on hand," Worozbyt said.
Officials with Lackawanna Heritage Valley are asking for used lawn care equipment that still works but might have otherwise been destined for the dumpster.
"Any type of hand tools would be really helpful. I had mentioned lawn mowers, weed whackers, blowers, rakes, machetes. They're great at cutting down the knotweed."
You can contact the Lackawanna Heritage Valley by phone at 570-963-6730, or by email.