Temple Student Government hosted its second block clean up of the semester on Sunday. This was the first event TSG’s new Grounds and Sustainability Director, Sarah Kuchan, has led.
About 30 people attended the event to bag trash around sidewalks on 15th and Fontain Streets. The Office of Sustainability partnered with TSG to provide gloves and bags for participants to use as they picked up litter in the area.
TSG’s Director of Communications Sarah Madaus said the clean up aims to improve the lives of both Temple students and community members.
“We want to show the local residents that we care about this community too,” Madaus said. “We want to see it look clean.”
“Events like these are important because I feel like as students of this neighborhood, we tend to come in and use it to benefit ourselves and then leave it.” Kuchan said, “To engage in the community aspect, as opposed to just being on campus in our little bubbles, is really important.”
Block clean up events were a part of Activate TU’s platform.
“I think it was really important to have that on our platform, being a sustainable university,” Madaus added. “Cleaning up the area around Temple just really fulfills what we wanted to do.”
Participating students said they wanted to improve the community.
“You see the trash laying out everywhere,” said Jeff Ledford, a senior sports management and recreation major. “It makes the place look a lot worse than it needs to. It only takes 2 hours of your day to make a difference.”
“It’s something I’ve never done before,” said Izzy Rapacz, a senior sports management and recreation major. “I haven’t been doing much to help in the community, and I appreciated this opportunity to do that.”
Kuchan said she plans to host more block clean ups next semester.
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