Downtown cleanup planned in conjunction with annual volunteer renovation event
By Russ Morgan
Friday, April 17, 2009
Next Saturday, volunteers from the community and from Emporia State University will spread out to help clean up and repair houses for those unable to do it themselves as service group Rebuilding Together Emporia holds its annual “Christmas in April” event.
This year, a cleanup of Commercial Street will be held in conjunction with the event, and organizers are looking for volunteers.
The cleanup is being organized by students in ESU’s health, physical education and rehabilitation department, who are setting up the event as part of a class project.
“It’s a project on service learning,” said HPER student and organizer Elyse Espinoza. “Part of the class is planning a project and getting other people involved.”
Espinoza said the class members researched different ideas and various areas in Emporia to find out how they could contribute the most.
“We thought doing a cleanup and getting other people involved would show that as college students we care about the community just as much as anybody,” Espinoza said. “That’s where the idea came about.”
Because the Christmas in April event gets so many volunteers each year, Espinoza said the group organizing the cleanup saw an opportunity to catch any overflow that might occur.
“A lot of times, Christmas in April gets so many volunteers they can’t even take them all,” she said. “We wanted to be there for people who wanted to help with that but couldn’t. We want them to have the opportunity to do this instead as an alternate community service.”
Organizers have been looking for volunteers on campus, but anybody can volunteer, Espinoza said.
“We’re hoping we’ll get maybe 30 from ESU, but if more people in the community want to volunteer, that would be amazing.”
The event is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 25. Those wishing to volunteer are to meet at the parking lot at Seventh Avenue and Merchant Street. Gloves and trash bags will be provided, and the group plans to clean up Commercial Street from Fourth Avenue to 12th Avenue — and further if possible.
“We’re just trying to help make the community look nicer,” Espinoza said. “We’re looking for all the help we can get.”