Each year, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation hosts its annual Chinatown Spring Cleanup event. More than 200 attended this year’s event on Saturday, bringing with them brooms and shovels to clean both residential and commercial streets in the neighborhood.
During the early morning registration, Our Brothers Place volunteer Calvin Helton reminded the participants to be mindful of the homeless population in Chinatown. Our Brothers Place is a men’s day shelter on Hamilton Street near 9th.
“We always do this to give back,” Helton said. “We want to show that we’re part of this community.”
A majority of the volunteers were Asian-American students from local high schools. The Independence Blue Cross Blue Crew, led by Joel Catindig, also helped clean the neighborhood. The Blue Crew is IBX’s volunteer program for its associates.
“We’re here to help out the community and promote a sense of racial diversity and inclusion for the Asian-American community,” said Catindig, IBX’s associate communications and engagement manager.
The Blue Crew was joined by Chinatown resident John Comiskey to assist in the cleanup.
“I walk by this place every day, and I was about to come out here with my own bags and clean up the place because this is my home and I hate to see it like this,” said Comiskey, a 2015 risk management and insurance alumnus.
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