28-05-2025
Students team up with volunteers to give Scranton splash of color
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A group of young students is teaming up with community volunteers to bring a splash of color to downtown Scranton. It's all part of a citywide beautification effort that kicked off this week.
Bright smiles and blooming flowers filled Christopher A Doherty Park on Tuesday morning. Volunteers of all ages came together to kick off Scranton City Pride.
'The kids are really enjoying it. We have some that are a little afraid to get dirty. Some that are ready to get dirty, so it's been a fun opportunity for me to just kinda watch them from what they've already learned,' The Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children Director Dean Pettinato told 28/22 News.
Students and faculty from the Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children in South Abington Township spent weeks nurturing plants in preparation for this project.
'We have a program where we collaborate with the Master gardeners, and they'll come and they're teaching our kids about how to develop the flowers from the seeds. They're teaching them about the science of the flowers,' Pettinato explained.
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On Tuesday, they partnered with Scranton Tomorrow's Safe, Clean and Green team to plant their colorful creations downtown.
'This is a really good example of the power of partnership, where Scranton Tomorrow recruits volunteers for a very specific project tailored for them, really for the benefit of the overall community,' Scranton Tomorrow's Safe, Clean, Green & Design Programs Project Manager Steve Ward stated.
Helping hands from the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County guided the young horticulturists as they transformed the pocket park at the corner of Linden Street and Wyoming Avenue into a vibrant urban garden.
Now, each student can take this new skill with them for life.
With more events planned throughout the next two weeks, organizers say this is just the beginning of a brighter, cleaner Scranton.
The community beautification campaign runs through June 7.
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