MORE PICTURES OF THE LITTER PICK-UP IN THE PHOTO GALLERY
Above picture, Jack Pierce directs some junior litter collectors to start at Carver & Lincoln. Bottom picture, one of the New Vision Youth makes a pick-up in the Douglass School parking lot.
If you noticed your friends and neighbors on the streets of Riverview and South Central Kingsport recently, you saw people with a purpose!
The Riverview Weed & Seed program held its semi-annual neighborhood clean-up project on Saturday, October 13, 2007, with volunteer litter collectors fanning out through the streets and alleys.
Several clean-up crews started on Dale Street, and quickly moved into the Maple, Oak and East Sevier Avenue areas, and the alleys behind them. Other crews started working in Riverview on Lincoln, and others began on Dunbar and worked towards each other.
LITTER COLLECTION IN THE ALLEY BETWEEN DALE AND MAPLE STREETS
"Litter pick-up is one of the events that's mandated by the grant we receive from the government, and we do it in the fall and the spring," says Jeannie Hodges of the Weed & Seed Steering Committee. "If we show pride in our neighborhood, it's easy for the government to help us with programs that benefit the residents."
The volunteer trash collectors came from all ages and walks of life, from older citizens to members of the New Visions Youth ministry. The Kingsport Public Works Department collected the garbage bags that were filled with everything from scraps from paper to, unfortunately, beer bottles that had been discarded.
THIS CAMERA (THE ROUND OBJECT ABOVE THE LIGHT), IS AT THE CORNER OF LOUIS AND BOOKER STREETS
The $200,000 Weed & Seed grant awarded to Kingsport by the U.S. Justice Department also paid for several security cameras, that are posted around the Riverview Apartments, and at other public housing complexes in the city. Those cameras give the Kingsport Police Department clear access to illegal activity going on around our homes, are credited with driving out drug dealers and drug transactions, by watching suspected dealers' every move.
"Johnson City has just applied for a Weed & Seed grant," says Jeannie. "They had plenty of questions for us, on how our program works. They have the same problems we are working to weed out, and some of their people came over to see how the program has benefited Riverview and South Central."
Weed & Seed also funds free programs in the neighborhood, like Underage Drinking Prevention, computer classes, income tax preparation, health fairs, back-to-school events, and programs for kids to take part in, during school vacation days. A special program coming up will be holiday dinners for our sick and shut-in.
