Safe Place Kids Collaborate with Residents and Students for Block Clean-up
Apr 18th, 2009
On Saturday, April 18th, youth from the Davis Boys & Girls Club Safe Place participated once again as a site for the annual Marquette Hunger Cleanup. One of the first sunny, warm mornings of the spring, it was a perfect day for getting out and sprucing up the neighborhood! Annie Weidert of Safe & Sound Community Partners handled the high turnout of kids by breaking them into smaller groups and paired them each with Marquette University student volunteers and Boys & Girls Club staff members. Once armed with garbage bags, trash pickers, gloves, along with highlighted maps that divided the surrounding blocks into manageable-sized chunks, the groups were off to tackle the area! Working up and down the blocks, Boys & Girls Club youth had a chance to get to know the visiting Marquette University students, who in turn were a wonderful help in assisting and supervising the youth so that more ground could be covered. The service groups attracted the friendly attention and appreciation of numerous neighbors who came out to join in working on their yards that morning. By the end of the event, the neighborhood was looking tidier and ready to be enjoyed during the coming spring thanks to the combined efforts of Club kids, college students, and nearby residents all pitching in together to care for the neighborhood!
A couple weeks later, on Saturday, May 2nd, the neighbors of two S 19th Street blocks came out to clean up their own area. Earlier in the week, block captain Abigail and Safe & Sound Community Partner Annie invited each of the blocks’ households, and numerous families came out to clear garbage, sweep the street, and rake and garden their own yards. Some of the biggest helpers were the more than a dozen children who eagerly participated! Abigail, the block captain, provided her driveway as a staging area for tools and supplies, and nearby businesses Panaderia Sol de Mexico and Pete’s Fruit Market generously donated cookies and fresh bananas for the children and neighbors to share afterwards in celebration of everyone’s hard work. Milwaukee Police District 6 Community Liaison Officer Jesus Gloria also stopped by to greet the residents and share water bottles, juice, and prizes for the best young cleaner-uppers!
