ALTON – A group of students from Lewis and Clark Community College’s YouthBuild AmeriCorps program volunteered Friday, April 9, to tidy an Alton neighborhood as part of the Alton City-Wide Litter Clean-Up coordinated by Alton Main Street.
More than a dozen students worked to declutter the sidewalks, streets and alleys in the area of Ridge, 5th and 6th streets. The group also picked up litter around OSF St. Clare’s Hospital, which is near YouthBuild’s location in the Scott Bibb Center on 5th Street.
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“This great effort to help keep the center’s neighborhood clean was made possible by Madison County’s new Clean Communities program, as well as Alton Main Street,” said L&C Adult Education Outreach Coordinator Jill Dupy. “It was a wonderful and fulfilling experience for our students who participated.”
The Alton City-Wide Clean-Up includes more than 45 area interest groups who have pledged to pick Alton neighborhoods clear of trash and wayward debris through the month of April. Groups are encouraged to post photos of their progress on social media using the hashtag #RiverbendTrashtagChallenge.
Other participating groups include L&C’s Trailblazers Give Back, adopting the area near the post office on Homer Adams Parkway, and the L&C Student Sustainability Association, taking the area of Central Avenue around Hellrung Park.
The Clean Communities program provided volunteer groups with bags and gloves for the month-long project, and is working to improve areas throughout Madison County.
Friday’s YouthBuild effort was organized by Alexandra Blockton and Gabrielle Davis.
“We’re all here together,” said YouthBuild student Avery Thompson of her group’s work. “It feels good to clean up the streets and see how happy it made people.”
Fellow student Kadin Hausman-Brown agreed.
“It showed that everyone working together can really make a difference.”
YouthBuild AmeriCorps is a program designed to serve out of school youth, 16-24 years of age. The program is a unique contextualized career pathway program designed to prepare young adults to take the GED®/High School Equivalency (HSE) exam or complete their high school diploma while gaining skills in construction, information technology or CNA.
YouthBuild functions as an AmeriCorps network affiliate member.
The AmeriCorps component of YouthBuild provides students with leadership opportunities while earning them money for education and developing an appreciation for citizenship through service-learning activities within the community.
To learn more, visit www.lc.edu/YouthBuild or contact Sabrina Davis at (618) 468-4150 or sdavis@lc.edu.
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