Natick
Helen Henkle Aguirre is an active volunteer and runner in her hometown. She is running for Keep Natick Beautiful (KNB) – a chapter of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful (KMB) – who she supports year-round to help clean up the marathon miles, and surrounding neighborhood.
“Keep Natick Beautiful has a wonderful group of volunteers and I am really grateful to be a part of it. The passion of our leader – Pat Conway – is contagious and he radiates as he works to fulfill our mission.
Feeding off that passion, Helen is gearing up for her second Boston Marathon.
“I am the first marathoner in my family, I never dreamt I'd be able to accomplish that. But when I was given the chance to run for KNB in 2021, I went on a real transformative journey and learned so much about myself along the way.
“I first watched the Boston Marathon back in 2000 and I couldn’t believe the energetic crowds and thousands of runners along the course. The wheelchair athletes were the most inspirational to me and now running with them is incredible.
“Volunteering with KNB is really rewarding and our goal is to encourage more people to come out to help. It’s as easy as picking up trash in your neighborhood when you have time or joining one of our clean-up events and spreading the word.”
Over the first few weeks of April, ahead of the 128th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America, KMB is arranging clean-ups along the course. The Natick chapter will be teaming up with Framingham on the morning of April 6th to clean-up what they can together.
Pat shares his joy with Helen representing them on race day.
“Helen is amazing. She is a brilliant local entrepreneur, she’s a dedicated KNB volunteer along with some of her family, and she also serves on our Board. She is all in and we can’t wait to support her again on race day.”
Learn more about Keep Massachusetts Beautiful and the pre-marathon clean-ups you can support.