Students volunteer to clean up Richmond for a day
by Graciela Roman
At 8 a.m. on a Saturday, Earlhamites are usually in bed, not to be disturbed for another few hours, or at least sometime before brunch closes. This past weekend was the exception. Students rose early to participate in a day of service cleaning up the streets of Richmond. Volunteers met in Runyan, where they were given breakfast to start their day.
Despite having to wake up early on a Saturday, many students were satisfied with their experience.
“It wasn’t too bad; we picked up a lot of trash, we cleaned up a lot and passed out a lot of fliers for the kindergarten sign-up,” said freshman Seth Shipley.
Another freshman volunteer, Aaron Barth, mentioned that the event was, “super fun,” adding, “I enjoyed picking up other people’s trash; I do that all the time without even having to.” The best part of the experience, according to Barth, was that “we cleaned up the streets of Richmond.”
The most unexpected piece of trash, both Shipley and Barth agreed, was a dirty diaper that Barth proceeded to throw at junior Alex Painter. Later, Painter got him back by throwing it back at him and hitting him in the head, which Shipley found most hilarious.
The mode of transportation was somewhat unexpected, to say the least. Students were transported to three different locations via sanitation trucks, which they climbed up and into from all sides. Upon arrival, volunteers jumped down from the trucks, grabbed a pair of gloves and trash bags, and picked up trash. From around 8:30 a.m. to about noon, volunteers from both Earlham and the Richmond community cleared the streets and sidewalks of countless pieces of miscellaneous litter.
Students had fun volunteering with their friends during the day of service. It was an event that seemed to end up being more fun than work. Although volunteers had fun, some felt slightly different about the ride that was offered to them. Shipley, for example said that he drove to the location because he “wouldn’t want to ride in a dump truck.”
On the other hand, there were students such as sophomore Hannah Hale Leifheit who thought the sanitation trucks were a nice touch.
“How often do you get to roll through the streets of Richmond in sanitation trucks?” she said.
Leifheit was one student who worked hard to see this event take place. She is an intern at the mayor’s office, so she was able to help coordinate the event with the mayor, who took care of transportation, i.e. the sanitation trucks, and the post-service-day barbeque. Preparation for the event included canvassing and passing out over 3,000 pamphlets.
Leifheit said, “It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it.”
She also thought it was a great learning experience: “It is so easy to get caught up in the Earlham bubble; then when you go out and see houses that are deteriorating, it’s humbling. I was reminded of the disconnect between Earlham and the Richmond community.”
Leifheit described what she witnessed through her participation in the event: “It was so cool to see kids and adults working together; it was just really necessary to bring us back to remind us of how fortunate we are.”
The day of service turned out to be an impressive success. It allowed Earlhamites to connect with the community that lies just outside of the campus. Volunteers from the Richmond community and Earlham volunteers bonded over one common goal. This event helped to bridge the gap between local residents and campus dwellers as they worked together to create a cleaner community.
If you’d like to continue volunteer work in the Richmond community, stop by the Earlham Volunteer Exchange (EVE) office on the first floor of the Landrum Bolling Center and volunteer your time.
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