Community Clean-Up

The direct service I provide d to benefit the members of the broader community was by picking up trash along local streets and the outskirts of some residential areas. The community that we served is the Soulsville area, where Memphis Rox, and the Stax Museum are located. I believe this service will benefit the animals and plants in the community by not only making it a more pleasant area to look at, but also by removing/cleaning up any dangerous glass or spoiled food a stray dog or small animal might ingest. Memphis Rox holds a weekly community clean-up, as a part of their efforts to better the surrounding community, so I believe I contributed to this overall mission by aiding in the beautification efforts that they have prided themselves on as a not-for-profit organization in a heavily under-resourced community. I think the impact the service had on me personally was exposing me to the lack of resources and plight that burdens a neighborhood less than 20 minutes from where I lay my head every night. It made me realize how much privilege I have not just as a regular citizen, but as a student of the University of Memphis, and the many opportunities we are given to better the circumstances in which we came from. I did this service as part of a team, volunteering with Black Scholars Unlimited, and it impacted my experience getting to see how people who were more familiar with the areas, shared their perspective on how they'd seen it grow over the years, either because they had visited, or because they grow up there. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the work we were doing, and it has caused me sense to pay more attention to how the areas I am from are affected by plight. I believe I will continue to volunteer with this organization to better understand how they've assembled such a strong community of volunteers and individuals dedicated to restoring areas in Memphis. I'd like to see something similar even just on the University of Memphis as we have plenty of areas in need of greater care that the students can provide to contribute making our campus look as beautiful as possible during all times of the year.