Teenager puts friends to work cleaning town
Bangi Laki, 14, uses party time to clean Marlboro streets
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO- Piles of litter sprawled along the side of his community's roads recently inspired one Marlboro teenager to host a unique birthday party, one where the main activity was cleaning those streets.

"In all honesty, the streets were a mess and it made the whole (town) seem lower than it is," said Bangi Laki, 14.

Deciding to do something about the sad state of the streets near his home in the Morganville section of town, Bangi crafted an event to clean them up, using a birthday party as the guise to gather people to help. The young man said he warned his friends in advance to wear old clothes because at his March 15 birthday party they would be getting dirty.

Although his actual birthday was on March 2, Bangi said it took some time to organize the day. He wrote a letter to Mayor Jonathan Hornik asking for the town's permission to have his day of spring cleaning.

Hornik said the way in which Bangi described his disgust at the condition of the roads and stated his willingness to help impressed him.

The mayor said the township allowed the roadside party to be held and provided trash bags and orange safety vests borrowed from the road department. Two officers from the Marlboro Police Department were posted to direct traffic around the youngsters as they cleaned the streets of litter.

On that particular Saturday afternoon, drivers could see Bangi and seven of his friends, along with five adults, along the side of Ticetown Road, between Provincial Drive and the Greenwood Road intersection, diligently working. The mayor even stopped by for a while to lend his hand in the cleanup effort.

After an hour's work, 15 bags were packed with debris that included beer cans, rusted metal and broken glass. Following their efforts, the partygoers enjoyed food and refreshments at the Laki household.

Now the area looks good, Bangi said, adding that he was amazed to find the road still clean more than a week after the cleanup. He believes the continued cleanliness is thanks to the message of a clean community sinking in. Bangi said he hopes drivers who saw the group cleaning up the road will think before tossing something out of their vehicle's window.

"I think kids need to get more active in their communities. The community cannot be supporting them all the time, they need to help support their community," Bangi said.

With an outlook like that, Hornik and Deputy Mayor Larry Rosen suggested that Bangi bring that attitude to the Teen Advisory Committee. Rosen is one of the committee's parental advisers.

After attending a Teen Advisory Committee meeting the young man sounded enthusiastic about what can be done in Marlboro.

"I feel that I can do more after seeing what I've (already) accomplished. Now that it's done and I've seen the progress not declining, I can imagine with larger numbers (of volunteers) what I can do," he said.

Bangi said he believes that with the large number of TeenAdvisory Committee members, his next venture with community service will be attended by more people and provide an even more successful event.