Neighborhood Cleanup Reflections
We partnered with the City of Wichita and Concordia Academy, a Lutheran High School in SoCe, to host a neighborhood cleanup last Saturday. We have often helped with neighborhood cleanups, but this was our first time in the role of coordinator. Reflecting on the cleanup, several words came to mind, GRATITUDE and CONNECTIONS being the first two. Thus, I thought a word cloud would be a fun way to represent the experience!
Key takeaways:
Gratitude - for Brooke at the City of Wichita; Amanda and her crew of enthusiastic volunteers from Concordia Academy; Tad, John, and Jeff, who drove the trash and tire trucks; the generous team of metal recyclers who even hauled a truckload of tires for us! What a team!
Connections - made organizing the cleanup light! At the Neighboring Movement, we try to invite the people around us to lend a hand or share a skill to strengthen our neighborhood. The cleanup felt easy because of all the people who shared their time and talent to help out.
Partnership - with the City of Wichita and Concordia Academy was empowering! Look what we can do together!
Neighborhood Size - We observed that we were successful because we worked in a small part of our neighborhood where we are connected and in a human-sized area that was the right size for our crew and the allotted time. I wonder how we can work with other sections of the SoCe neighborhood to do cleanups of right-sized areas.
Plans for Next Year - We are energized to begin planning for next year’s cleanup! Our experience taught us that we may be able to expand the cleanup area a little, and there are some additional ways we can get the word out to neighbors so that they have a greater opportunity to participate.
