“We’re a small but mighty crew,” Heather Rodrigues said Saturday as she and her daughter, Ashley, raked leaves into a pile. “There are some huge hearts here today.”

Heather, who serves as Junior Warden at St. Barnabas Church in Apponaug, was speaking about the Episcopal parish’s annual Fall Clean Up. The usual turnout of volunteers was noticeably smaller this year, something she attributed to the COVID crisis.

Nevertheless, the event attracted seven proud parishioners: Rodrigues’ husband Joseph Rodrigues, son “JR” Rodrigues Jr., daughter Ashley, Diane Whitehead, Treasurer Stanley Schofield and his son Paul Schofield. Three hours, and some three-dozen yard waste bags later, the volunteers turned in what Heather called “an extremely productive work session.”

Joseph Rodrigues and the Schofields even boldly climbed up ladders to the roof of the church to clear out the gutters.

Meanwhile on the ground, JR Rodrigues, a 9th grader at Pilgrim High School, mowed the lawn and helped consolidate the bags of leaves.

Heather was pleased to point out the crew also included a master gardener. Whitehead used her many talents to rid the flower garden located at the main entrance to the parish office from seasonal overgrowth and leaves.

As Heather put it, “We practiced the necessary social distancing, with masks. Let’s all pray COVID-19 isn’t like the endless pile of leaves we removed from the park today.