The Abrams family moved to Westport in 2017. Almost immediately, they were struck by the town’s strong sense of community.
Recently, they bought a new house on Partrick Road. Walking and driving around, they were struck by something else: the amount of trash on the roadside.
This was especially true in the sparsely frequented Partrick Wetlands area.
On their walks, Ewa told her children that she wished she had a bag to pick up garbage. She and her son Dexter — now a Coleytown Middle School 6th grader — started doing that several years ago, at Compo Beach.
Dexter Abrams, and his garbage.
Inspired by 2 local clean-up efforts — the Aspetuck Land Trust trail steward program, which her family had done for a couple of years, cleaning up the Newman-Poses Preserve, and Longshore kayak coastal clean-up events, which her husband and she did — the Abramses began picking up around their own street last March.
The other day, she wrote on social media: “Sad to say, the bottles, trash and even bags of urine (!) lining the Partrick Wetlands continue to return. Here are 3 full bags from our 10-minute walk.”
Theo and Dexter Abrams, and their Partrick Wetlands trash.
As yuck as it sounds, it’s actually quite fun, rewarding, and filled with lots of laughter.
She, her husband and all 4 children have participated.
Dexter often asks when they can do another.
Sadly, there is always a need.
Happily, the Abrams family — this week’s Unsung Heroes — are there to help.
(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To nominate a hero, email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
Yes, yes thank you for your community service. , The Abram’s family … We live at the dead end of Cross Highway. We nightly walk up and down the street since it’s a one-way it’s amazing to us all that we collect at the main street end of Cross highway bottles and fast food wrappers …I’m talking small liquor bottles sometimes we can count to over a dozen also I guess the ends of those filtered cigarettes They look like computer chips . at first I had no idea what they were. I can’t believe in 2025 people still litter it’s just amazing to us ….
We are really proud of all of your efforts. Maybe some of your neighbors. Maybe some of your neighbors do the same.
Thank you Dexter and the Abrams family for making a difference in District 2 and all of Westport. You truly are an Unsung Hero!
I drive on Partrick daily to get to the Westport Y from norwalk. The trash always bothers me, and several times I have parked and cleaned up the road. I am so happy that a local family cares about it, and is picking it up. I spend a lot of time cleaning trash up in Norwalk. I wish I could think of some way to stop litterbugs! In the meantime I will continue to clean my neighborhood. Thanks for looking out for Partrick road!