The city owes a lot to the many volunteers – community members – who help weed and clean Olean’s many green spaces.
The Town of Olean Beautification Committee will be back on Sunday – weeding and cleaning up the gardens in front of the Olean Municipal Building on East State Street.
Mayor Bill Aiello says the effort is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon. Meanwhile, the group will continue to meet at this location throughout November as long as the weather permits.
Volunteers are welcome, but must bring their own gardening tools. Bags will be provided.
FRIENDS OF THE OLEAN PUBLIC LIBRARY sponsor a poetry contest for high school students to promote creativity.
Cash prizes will be awarded for the winning poems in each grade from ninth through twelfth grade at each school. Poems may be on any topic but must be typed in 12 point type in a standard font.
In the upper left corner of the submitted poem, include the full name of the author, grade school attended and teacher as well as an email address for contact.
Poems can be submitted by teachers or dropped off at the Olean Public Library for the attention of the Friends Poetry Contest by November 20. Late registrations cannot be considered.
Helen Ruggieri, co-ordinator of the contest, says poetry has the merit of being something students can do on their own.
“In this strange new world we live in, poetry gives young writers a chance to express things that isolation has fostered,” she says. “Poetry can be a friend, someone to talk to, a release from inner tensions. It helps us to understand ourselves.
“It promotes thinking in images and translating the visual into words as well as understanding metaphor.”
