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October 19 - November 1, 2013
Neighbors
www.SanTanSun.com
City clean-up effort set for Oct. 26 BY MAX KRAUST
Chandler residents have an opportunity to help clean up their community during the third annual For Our City—Make a Difference Day on Sat., Oct. 26, at Chandler Municipal Airport. Volunteers will remove weeds, trash and debris, and install landscape rock along the perimeter of a 6-acre lot located on the west side of Airport Boulevard, south of Germann Road, along Paseo Trail. More than 200 volunteers are anticipated to help with the project, according to Neighborhood Programs Coordinator Judy Ramos. The city’s Neighborhood Resources office is working with For Our City— Chandler, part of the nonprofit CARE Inc., for this landscape beautification project. For Our City has created many other volunteer-based initiatives to coordinate services between the city of Chandler and nonprofit organizations. All programs are heavily dependent on volunteers and existing resources in order to have the greatest impact possible on the community. “We can mobilize a large number of volunteers for events that would normally take a lot of paid city employees,” says Community Resources and Development Manager Leah Powell. “It builds a sense of
community.” For Our City—Chandler has created I-HELP (Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program), Let’s Pull Together and Operation Back to School. Holiday volunteer and donation programs are also held for those in need by For Our City—Chandler. “We have brought together neighborhood faces, government leaders and nonprofit organizations and talked about how to maximize resources,” says Powell. “It is a great opportunity for people to know what services are out there.” Through I-HELP there are 15 households for the chronic homeless and a hot meal is provided three nights a week for those in need. “We learned a lot more about the homeless situation in our city through I-HELP,” says Powell. Operation Back to School helped supply students with backpacks and other supplies needed for the school year. “This year we were able to serve over 3,000 students with the Operation Back to School Program,” says Powell. Let’s Pull Together has been another neighborhood beautification project that has not only helped clean up neighborhoods but also aided those who are unable to do yard work due to physical limitations. This has helped
CLEANING THE COMMUNITY: A volunteer landscapes the F-86 Sabre Jet monument during last year’s For Our City Day. Submitted photo
raise the value of homes, especially in neighborhoods with foreclosures, according to Powell.
“More people are apt to clean their neighborhoods if people are pulling their weeds,” says Powell. “It has been really exciting to see neighborhoods step up.” One of the other main focuses of For Our City—Chandler is to reduce the number of families who receive duplicate donations so as many people as possible may be served. There will be a shared database between the program and other nonprofit organizations for the holidays to ensure more people are served, according to Powell. For Our City—Chandler is planning to continue and build its holiday programs, Operation Back to School as well as extend the I-HELP program to seven days a week, according to Powell. For more information about For Our City—Chandler or to pre-register as a volunteer at the For Our City Day event, visit http://forourcity.org/ Chandler.html. Volunteers will gather at 6:30 a.m. at Airport Park located northwest of the air traffic control tower on the east side of Airport Boulevard, north of Queen Creek Road. Max Kraust is a student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. He can be reached at news@santansun.com.
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