Youth Help Elderly During 2nd Annual Fall Clean-up
By: Cierra Putman
Updated: October 20, 2012
Most people use the weekend to get yard work out of the way and on Saturday scores of young people rolled up their sleeves to pitch in during Monroe County's Intergenerational Fall Clean-up.
One hundred volunteers are cleaning up 24 yards for the second annual Monroe County Intergenerational Fall Clean-up Program.
The teens and young adults came from area high schools and colleges. They helped elderly people like Richard Brice spruce up their yards.
Brice is older than 80 now, but as a young man he served during the Korean War. Seeing young people serving in a different capacity makes him proud.
"That teaches them how to help others which is what we need," Brice said. "We need people to help people and it's very good."
"We all have grandparents or we all did at one point," RIT volunteer Joshua Dodge-Woodward said. "It's definitely more gratifying than helping most other people."
Before heading out, the volunteers received a send off from Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks.
"Our seniors are the key to the past in this community," Brooks said. "Our young people are the key to the future and these are two of our largest populations. So to bring the two generations together to really improve the quality of life in the community is an important priority for me."
In five years, organizers would like to have1,000 volunteers help to clean up more than 100 homes in Monroe County.
