Young men who started 'The Block Gives Back,' clean several blocks across the city
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AS HE shoveled trash and debris from a narrow alley between a community center and a rowhouse on Catharine Street near 58th, Hakeem Ruiz found the trash was so thick, he couldn't see the ground.
There were juice bottles, wrappers, empty potato-chip bags. "About everything people sell at the corner store looked like it wound up in that alley," he said.
As Ruiz and a group of friends cleaned further into the West Philadelphia alley on April 16, the trash got heavier, and included fallen branches.
"I was surprised how bad it was deep in," he said. "You couldn't see the ground."
Ruiz, 23, of Tacony, and three friends were cleaning the alley as part of The Block Gives Back, an organization they created to improve the city one block at a time and build neighborhood pride.
"We just want to build camaraderie in the city and bring people together," said cofounder Tom Roush, 22. In addition to Ruiz and Roush, the other founders are Tyreek Wanamaker and Dan McMenamin, both 24. All live in Northeast Philadelphia.
On April 16, the four friends got up early to help clean the 5800 block of Catharine.
It was the third block chosen for a special cleanup project that the young men call "4 Blocks in 4 Weeks."After the cleanup, they threw a block party for residents, just as they had done after previous cleanups of other blocks.
About noon, people danced in the street to lively music while children bounced about under the warm sun, their faces adorned with sequined-like paint.
The West Philly cleanup was a success, said Emma Earle, block captain for the 5800 block of Catharine: "Everybody was very appreciative, and everyone spoke highly of the group."
She said she learned about the cleanup through Facebook. The group had asked people to nominate blocks for cleanup.
For four Saturdays, starting April 2, the group has helped clean a different street, working alongside neighbors on each block.
On April 2, the friends cleaned 26th Street near Huntingdon in North Philadelphia. On April 9, it was Griscom Street near Wakeling in Frankford. Then it was Catharine, and Saturday it was to be Edmund Street near Magee Avenue in Tacony.
All cleanups are funded through donations.
Beverly Smith Clarke, block captain on 26th Street, said: "Oh, my goodness, it was so helpful. I got all the kids out and they hung in there, even though it was raining at first."
The Block also provided donated tickets to the Sixers' April 10 home game to children and adults from both Clarke's block and Griscom Street.
"They seem so positive and mature," Clarke said of the young men. "They're the kind of people you need more of in society."
Roush, Ruiz, and Wanamaker were friends at Abraham Lincoln High School in Mayfair. McMenamin graduated from Roman Catholic High. All four are working and want to complete college.
Roush is a roofer and father of a 2-year-old son. Wanamaker works at the Philadelphia Zoo. Ruiz is a carpenter and McMenamin plans to attend Holy Family University in the fall.
Back on Edmund Street, Kathy Nogowski was excited about Saturday's cleanup.
"It's hard to get people to keep blocks beautiful," she said, and urged Mayor Kenney to help with programs like this.
"You need somebody to come out and bring people together," she said. "They would achieve a lot if they keep things up like this. I don't know why it took a younger generation to figure it out."
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