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Clean-ups are a great way to spruce up your street and home.
With a combined effort residents of a street can make
drastic improvements in just one day. Joining together makes
the work fun and provides the opportunity for you and your
neighbors to get to know each other. In addition, building
pride and investing in cleanup work will inspire everyone to
keep things clean all year long.
*Remember to include landlords in your outreach efforts. They should help with the clean-up, too!
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Dolma Chopol of Ward Street carries brush in her wheelbarrow to a dumpster. Chopol’s neighborhood received funding for a dumpster from a neighborhood grant program. |
Funding
Funding is an important and necessary part of any cleanup. Contact CCAN for help with this. Funding can be obtained through Neighborhood Grant Programs, resident fundraising, solicit businesses or landlords for donations.
Dumpsters
Dumpsters can be used to dispose of construction waste, old appliances or damaged furniture. Contact local refuse companies to get prices and arrange for dumpsters. Request prices for one trash dumpster and one for metal recycling. Check the price per ton and the delivery charges are for each dumpster. The cost of the metal dumpster will be less because metal is recycled and the refuse company gets reimbursed for it. Set a delivery and removal time. Use signs to label each dumpster clarifying trash, recycling or metal dumpsters. Spaces must be designated on the street in advance for the location of dumpsters. Dumpsters are generally two car lengths long. Keep in mind overhead wires can influence where you can put a dumpster.
Supplies
You will need supplies and tools such as trucks, dollies, wheel barrows, rakes, garbage bags, and gloves. Consider having a table with information and refreshments to share with neighbors. Ask your neighbors what resources they have – and are willing to share. Next, contact local businesses and the Burlington Neighborhood Project to request donations of supplies or loans of tools. The Library also rents out some tools like rakes and shovels.
Refreshments
Nourish your workers and celebrate your efforts with food and drinks throughout the day. Again, local businesses are often generous with donations.
Drew and Ward Street Neighborhood Cleanup & Garage Sale
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“99% of neighborhood business gets done on the front porch”
says Gail Compton from Drew Street. This is how a front
porch conversation turned Drew Street into a bustling garage
sale and neighborhood clean up one Saturday morning.
The clean up day and garage sale on Drew and Ward Streets has become a tradition that usually takes place in June. “Parents and kids come out after staying in their houses all winter and you finally get to see people unwrapped...it kicks off the summer season.” says Compton. |
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Neighbors and CEDO staff chat during the Ward and Drew Street annual garage sale that raises money for the street’s tool co-op. |
For the Drew and Ward Street residents, the clean up is a great time to make the neighborhood cleaner and safer by getting people together to do hard work. Items from the clean up that are salvageable are used as a part of a big community garage and bake sale to raise money.
Last year residents raised $100 which they put towards new tools for the Community Tool Cooperative. The tool co-op was started to purchase, “the kind of tools that no one wants to buy on their own because you only use it once a year, like tree clippers, rakes, and roto-tillers.” says Compton.
The clean up and garage sale is one way residents of Drew and Ward Streets come together. Residents have dealt with a range of issues on their streets from drugs and vandalism to unsafe traffic and illegal garbage truck parking. Over time their efforts have dramatically improved the safety and health of their neighborhood.
“We stand together and now when someone takes notice of a particular issue the rest of the community stands behind them 100%” says Compton, “people are more open now that they feel safer.”
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