Framingham Cleanup Volunteers To Get Award From Statewide Group

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A local volunteer litter cleanup group that's been hard at work keeping Framingham litter-free will get recognized by a statewide group this week.

Keep Framingham Beautiful (KFB) will get the "rookie of the year" award from Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, a parent group for community-based litter cleanup volunteers. KFB was initially founded in spring 2020 as Clean Up Framingham, but changed its name in February to join the statewide group.

And KFB has definitely earned the statewide award.

Just since October, the group held the first ever Keep Framingham Beautiful Week, where over 200 volunteers fanned out across the city and collected 255 bags of trash, plus larger items like tires and mattresses. The group also organized a "Neaten Up November" effort, encouraging residents to go out and perform their own mini-cleanups.

RELATED: Great Framingham Cleanup Pioneers New Way To Clean City

Resident Michael Croci founded the group during the pandemic due to the cancellation of the city's annual Earth Day festival. On top of the litter removal, the group became a social rallying point for local residents. Head to the KFB Facebook page to see scores of posts by residents spending their free time picking up nips, Dunkin' cups and all sorts of weird trash.

The 2021 Keep Massachusetts Beautiful community award ceremony will happen Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. on Zoom.