72010475
The crisp smell of spring lingered in the air Saturday morning in the Italian Market, as volunteers banded together in the warm, sunny weather to sweep the sidewalks and streets — what used to be a time-honored South Philly practice.
Di Bruno Bros., 930 S. Ninth St., which has operated its Bella Vista location since 1939, teamed up with the South Ninth Street Businessmen’s Association to revive that custom and “Keep up the Sweep Up” for the fifth annual Philly Spring Cleanup.
Rachel Bicksler, a Center City Di Bruno Bros. worker, as well as an avid supporter and past volunteer of the citywide initiative, coordinated the Ninth Street activity with co-worker Ashleigh Havermann.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for people to give back to either where they live or where they work, and having just a bunch of people come together and help out,” the Bucks County resident, who hopes to draw more volunteers for next year, said.
With the strong support of Bill Mignucci Jr., Di Bruno Bros. president and the business association’s team project partner, volunteers, including 11 City Year members, were able to give back to the heart of the historic corridor that dates back to the 1880s.
“I think that especially in an area like the Italian Market where there are so many vendors, it really allows for a lot of trash to collect,” City Year member Sydney Congdon said. “So being able to pick that up really made us feel like we were not only helping the vendors, but helping the customers and everybody kind of comes through.”
Some City Year members even cleaned their way through parts of Washington Avenue and down alleyways leading off from Ninth Street, Congdon, of Eighth and Morris streets, said.
“We had some of the neighbors come out and thank us, and it really made us feel like part of the community,” she said.
Besides hosting the cleanup, Bicksler coordinated with other Di Bruno Bros. locations to collect donations for the South Ninth Street Businessmen’s Association, in hopes of keeping up the efforts. Her employer replenished volunteers by providing sandwich platters and coolers filled with drinks, in addition to raffling off gift cards for the gourmet food store.
With 347 other projects taking place across Philadelphia, this year had the most projects ever registered, Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams, said noting the program, which Mayor Michael Nutter created to beautify the city upon taking office in 2008, is driven by the community’s volunteers.
“It’s an identity location in [volunteers’] neighborhoods that they want to see addressed, and we come in and support it,” Williams said. “And we think that’s the key to long-term sustainability — people identifying their own problems and us trying to support it as government.”
Since Nutter was unable to make it to the event as planned because he was attending a funeral service for fallen firefighters, Williams appeared in his place to spread encouraging words to volunteers equipped with brooms and plastic bags that were sweeping the ground and collecting trash.
“I think this is a great awareness campaign, as well as a cleanup, to let people know how spirited and how big of an issue this is,” Williams said.
About seven blocks away at Jefferson Square Park, 300 Washington Ave., and Sacks Playground, 400 Washington Ave., greenlimbs, a nonprofit dedicated to urban sustainability, took last year’s cleanup to a whole new level.
Joining greenlimbs in its second year of participation were Friends of Jefferson Square Park members, about 60 students and staffers from George W. Nebinger School, 601 Carpenter St., and area volunteers.
“It was really a positive experience today,” Nebinger Home and School President Maureen Fratantoni said. “We had many, many people from the community and Nebinger School come out and help.”
Since last year’s spring cleanup, volunteers have kept the Pennsport park and Dickinson Narrows playground tidy, setting a foundation for bigger projects to flourish this year, greenlimbs co-founder and project coordinator Lauren Leonard, a Third-and-Bainbridge-streets resident, said.
“There’s more happening in the park today that was sort of able to happen because a lot of the [initial] cleaning has already taken place,” Leonard said.
Volunteers, accompanied by 1st District Councilman Mark Squilla, Queen Village Neighbors Association President Jeff Hornstein and Nebinger Principal Dr. Ralph Burnley, were not only picking up litter, but also weeding, gardening and spreading mulch that Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Ave., donated to further beautify the area.
“I think that this is a good example of what’s really happening in the neighborhoods,” Leonard said. “It’s a lot of people engaged and enjoying their time together — it’s families, it’s all kinds of groups of people and really diverse crowds in our neighborhoods.”
Fellow Third-and-Bainbridge resident Christian Dunbar, who is the co-founder of greenlimbs, also noted the importance of getting Nebinger students involved in the community.
“It shows [the children] that people in and around their neighborhood do care about them and that they should also care about the environment they live in.”
Whole Foods, 929 South St., provided an environmentally-friendly lunch for the student volunteers at the start of the Philadelphia Bobcats baseball game. The youngsters enjoyed a break on the bleachers, watched the game and soaked up the sun while prizes were awarded to trivia winners.
About 10 volunteers from the recreational softball team from The Pub on Passyunk East, 1501 E. Passyunk Ave., opted out of the lunch break to spruce up the grassy parcel where they usually play.
“We’ve just been cleaning up the field, looking for litter, sweeping, just picking up some weeds, replenishing some of the playing field,” Julie Haynes, from 11th and Jackson streets, said.
Cleanup coordinators invited all volunteers to a family-friendly happy hour at Paddy Whacks Pub, 150 South St., directly following the cleanup from 3 to 5 p.m.
Citywide 12,115 volunteers removed 1,000,940 pounds of trash and 40,340 pounds of recyclables, according to statistics from the Mayor’s Office.
Dunbar hopes that people will continue to “Keep up the Sweep Up,” as the slogan goes, and promises that greenlimbs will aid in the maintaining of the park.
The cleanup doesn’t stop here, Dunbar said.
“I would say maybe it starts here,” he said.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
72010465
72010485
