LYNN — On a Thursday afternoon following a snowstorm that occurred the night before, Lynn Classical freshman Christian Gonzalez found himself shoveling out a driveway on Chatham Street free of charge.
It was the first driveway he cleared out for a volunteer service project aimed at helping elderly and disabled people deal with the winter conditions.
“Since I was a little kid, I’ve always been trying to help out,” said Gonzalez, a lifelong Lynn resident who noted a strong desire to give back to his city.
“It’s our city. It’s where we live,” said Gonzalez, 16. “We want to keep it as nice as possible. And obviously we want to help our earth, our planet. It’s the only one we have.”
He came up with the idea to provide free shoveling services this year when he saw the struggles elderly and disabled people were facing, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I saw it to be a necessity for them,” Gonzalez said. “And I offered myself to help.”
He reached out to City Councilor-at-Large Brian Field who helped him spread the word on social media.
“Looks like the snow isn’t stopping Christian Gonzalez from keeping our city clean and safe!” Field said in a post advertising Gonzalez’s services. “Thank you Christian!”
Field said requests for Gonzalez’s shoveling services can be passed on through him.
Shoveling snow is far from the only service Gonzalez provides to the community.
He and his dad started with a program inspired by Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, where they clean snow off of neighborhood fire hydrants, which is a useful service to the fire department that also improves safety in the community.
“If they need to use it and it’s covered up, then it will set (the fire department) back a little bit,” Gonzalez said.
During the spring, summer and fall, he focuses on cleaning up trash in the city. He led a program where he and his friends dedicated two days a week to cleaning up the Lynn Common.
His entire family is involved in activism, with Gonzalez citing the work of Puerto Rican activist Dr. William Soto as a major inspiration.
“He taught us how to take care of our city, keep everything clean, preserve our wildlife and water sources,” he said.
With his father and sister, he joined Soto’s program, Global Embassy of Activists for Peace. When the program ended in 2018, he decided to continue Soto’s work on his own.
When the weather improves, he hopes to continue his clean-up project with the help of volunteers.
“(The trash) is a problem in our city, and I think it needs to be addressed,” Gonzalez said. “I think the best way to address it is to do it yourself.”
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
