AmeriCorps “Slam Dunks the Junk”

Saturday, April 24th was Global Youth Service Day, and NJCDC’s current class of AmeriCorps Members participated in the “Slam Dunk the Junk” area cleanup project. In the wake of the severe flooding experienced throughout Paterson and the Passaic County region last month, this year’s event was especially critical, as a number of the area’s parks, railways and neighborhoods have been severely polluted with trash, debris and other unsanitary residue resulting from the flood.

In light of this need, and in an effort to get local youth actively involved in the preservation and caretaking of their community, NJCDC’s AmeriCorps Members–along with student volunteers from local schools took part in this challenging, yet essential clean-up. It was particularly impressive to see young students from Paterson’s School No. 2 out in force to work alongside the AmeriCorps Members.

At Paterson’s Roberto Clemente Park, NJCDC’s team filled more than 30 large garbage bags with debris of all sorts. Bob Guarasci, NJCDC’s Founder and CEO, stated that “each time we sponsor a project of this nature I am always proud of our AmeriCorps members and our volunteers for the work that they do to improve our community. NJCDC is committed to improving the physical landscape of our neighborhood, and efforts like “Slam Dunk the Junk” promote the cleaner, greener Paterson we are working towards every day.”

The City of Paterson and the state’s Clean Communities program provided clean-up gear and supplies.