“As you can see, the amount of trash people dump here doesn’t really reflect well for a historical neighborhood, so we figure we can give the neighbors a helping hand,” said cleanup organizer Matthew Sliver.
A group of around 50 University of Dayton students participated in the cleanup as part of UD’s Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity.
“This is a really cool experience for us because this is not a neighborhood a lot of students know about and it gives us an opportunity to give back to the Dayton community and just see a different part of the city,” said sophomore Sophia Groover, head of the Alpha Kappa Psi service committee.
Jackie Patton lives in the Dunbar-Wright neighborhood and said she appreciates the cleanup effort.
“I’m so happy to see that somebody is doing something because (the trash dumping) has been ridiculous for years,” Patton said. “I give (the volunteers) praise because I always see trash around and it’s just terrible.”
Volunteers picked up hundreds of bags’ worth of trash and collected a mountain of abandoned household items, such as mattresses, laundry baskets, plastic chairs, and baby carriers, that they had found littered throughout alleyways and green spaces.
“It’s nice to be able to spend your day and know that you can make a change,” said UD junior Darla Hastings.
“It gives fast results; you start off seeing a bunch of garbage everywhere and once you’re done, it’s clean, so you know you already made an impact,” added Claire McCabe, also a junior at UD.
Saturday’s cleanup was a collaboration between Dayton Inspires and several local organizations and businesses, including MVP Dance Fit, Waste Free Dayton, Keep Montgomery County Beautiful, and I Love West Dayton. Coffee was provided by Boston Stoker Coffee Co., and March First Brewing donated 30 pizzas for volunteers.
“This is such a cool thing,” said Bhumin Desai, culinary director for March First Brewing. “It helps out the community and is for a good cause, so we felt we should be a part of it.”
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