VCU and Surrounding Community to Paint the Town Green

By Dawn Lyons

VCU students, staff, faculty and alumni will team up with neighboring communities on Saturday to “Paint the Town Green” – an event aimed at bringing the groups together for the purpose of keeping neighborhoods clean and strengthening relationships.

The event will kick off at 9 a.m. on Saturday with a mini-rally in Monroe Park. Participants will be separated into teams and given garbage bags and gloves to pick up litter in one of three assigned neighborhoods, Carver, Randolph or Oregon Hill.

“It’s important for the VCU community to come out,” said Adele McClure, president of VCU’s Student Government Association, Monroe Park Campus. “We want to help to maintain the neighborhoods’ appearance and strengthen the relationship between VCU and surrounding communities. Events like this help bridge the gap.”

After the cleanup, celebrations will be held in each of the neighborhoods and will include free food for participants. Volunteers also will have the opportunity to speak to their neighbors.

“At VCU we like to look at ourselves as a part of this community,” said McClure. “We want to give back.”

The event also is part of the “Caring to Act” calendar – which provides opportunities for the VCU community to participate in community service projects in the Richmond region.
The calendar can be found at http://www.community.vcu.edu/solutions/cce/calendar.html.

“The SGA has put on two of these events in the past with a great turnout from students,” said Catherine Howard, Ph.D., vice provost, Division of Community Engagement. “The residents in the neighborhoods had great respect for students willing to come out and pick up trash on a Saturday.”

The Paint the Town Green event is sponsored by multiple university organizations,  including the Monroe Park Campus Student Government Association, VCU Neighborhood Team, VCU Honors College, Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, VCU AmeriCorps and Rams Alumni Volunteer Network.