On Sunday May 1, more than 50 participants gathered at the Save A Lot parking lot at 812 Liberty Street in Durham to celebrate service and community at an event organized by Wall Street Juniors hosted the gathering in collaboration with Keep Durham Beautiful. During the celebration, 39 volunteers joined in service to clean up 16 bags worth of litter from nearby city streets.
Mayor Elaine S. O’Neal kicked off the event with welcome remarks giving the volunteers credit for making Durham cleaner and safer. “A safe city begins with a clean city,” said Mayor O’Neal.
The financial literacy nonprofit Wall Street Juniors has partnered for three years with Keep Durham Beautiful to adopt and clean up litter along five streets in East Durham as part of the Adopt a Street program that Keep Durham Beautiful coordinates in partnership with City of Durham.
Wall Street Juniors hosted the gathering in collaboration with Keep Durham Beautiful to celebrate their adoption of the streets, and the dedication of their service work to five community members who lost their lives to gun violence. The five streets which they clean up weekly have dedicated signs. They are located on Liberty Street, Eva Street, N. Elm Street, Railroad Street, and Elizabeth Street.
Makayla Booker, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Wall Street Juniors, says that this program helps build community while making our streets cleaner and safer. She said, “Our goal is to inform others about opportunities that are all around them in the Durham area to create more sustainable communities.”
Attendees learned from several other organizations at the event about other ways they can invest in their communities through acts of service and being an active participant in improving them. Vendors: IamMeGirls, Dezignz; Jewel’s Outreach, Monet Richardson
Volunteer groups that adopt eligible streets in Durham through Keep Durham Beautiful’s Adopt a Street Program help to regularly clean up litter along a one-mile stretch of a designated city streets once per month. The City of Durham installs signs recognizing adopting groups showing consistent commitment.
Find more photos of the event here!
About Wall Street Juniors
The Wall Street Juniors group meets every Sunday at noon in the Save A Lot parking lot on Liberty Street and welcomes interested volunteers to join them. “We invite you to join us as we shower the community with love and service,” said the Wall Street Juniors CEO.
Wall Street Juniors is sharing the mission of Social Responsibility. “Be responsible for one another and get familiar with your community. Communication brings us together,” said Booker as she encouraged everyone to volunteer.
Learn more about Wall Street Juniors at www.wallstreetjr.org.
About Keep Durham Beautiful Adopt a Street
Adopt a Durham street and commit to keeping it litter free by organizing cleanups along that street at least once a month. We are proud to include 16 groups in our current Adopt-a-Street program!
https://keepdurhambeautiful.org/adoptastreet
At Keep Durham Beautiful, we believe in the shared responsibility to build and maintain clean, green, and beautiful spaces. That’s why we take action every day to improve and beautify neighborhoods throughout Durham. While it is daunting to try to solve the issues challenging our environment alone, Keep Durham Beautiful is here to make it easier. Together we can lay the foundation for a resilient community.
An affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Keep Durham Beautiful is a 501c3 nonprofit, working in partnership with the City of Durham and Durham County to help residents take action through volunteer opportunities, tool lending, educational programs, and resource coordination. KDB environmental stewardship activities focus on litter prevention and community greening where they are most needed.