By: Sydney James, APPLES Service-Learning Volunteer

Some people wake up on Saturday morning and reach for the snooze button, but MaKayla Booker wakes up and reaches for her trash grabber.

MaKayla is the chief financial officer for Wall Street Juniors, a nonprofit focused on teaching students financial literacy, and a volunteer in Keep Durham Beautiful Adopt-a-Street program.

MaKayla and Wall Street Juniors have worked with Keep Durham Beautiful for over a year. The students in her nonprofit program accompany MaKayla to Liberty Street once a month to pick up every piece of trash they see for a mile.

MaKayla’s goal is to instill into the students a pride in picking up trash. She says she believes if students are taught the hard work of picking up the trash, they’ll be less likely to litter and more likely to speak up when their friends litter. Plus, they’ll have a deeper understanding of nature’s livelihood and the effort it takes to keep Durham beautiful.

Her favorite memory when serving with KDB was the kindness of a random neighborhood man who gave each student $5 for picking up trash. She says she loves this memory because the students don’t normally receive a reward or feel seen, but this man took the time to thank them and even pay them.

She looks forward to the Adopt-a-Street program opening back up with more trash grabbers, gloves, and hopefully, volunteers. Even with COVID-19 realities, MaKayla says nonprofits are still vital to communities as they bring people together to simply uplift and support one another. She says there is enough love to go around and nonprofits are major factors in spreading it.