Carroll Community College and McDaniel College Team up to Clean up Westminster

On Saturday April 9, McDaniel College and Carroll Community College students are teaming up to help clean Westminster.  After last year’s success with 120 registered volunteers, the two schools decided to work together again to improve the downtown community.

Naomi Raphael, liaison for Community Outreach and Service of McDaniel College, worked with Jeana Biondo from Carroll Community College to set-up the event. Last year, Raphael participated as a student and wanted to continue on with the service. Both Biondo and Raphael work for Americorps VISTA to help better the communities in which they serve.

“We want to give back to Westminster and to create a sense of community between Carroll Community College and McDaniel,” Raphael said. “We want to be involved with the Westminster Community as well.” 

The number of volunteers for the event, limited to McDaniel College and Carroll Community College students, has doubled in the last year. So far, there are roughly 240 people registered to volunteer.

Student organizations from both schools are registered for the event and have been assigned specific tasks. Some of the jobs scheduled to be completed include cleaning around the library and the Boys and Girls Club, picking up trash along the Wakefield Valley Trail and cleaning and labeling storm drains along Pennsylvania Avenue. Volunteers will also do some spring cleaning at downtown parks. Cleaning, weeding, mulching and trimming will be done at King Park, Dutterer Park and the Westminster City Playground.

“The group I was in last year painted ‘Save the Bay’ in white stencil on a blue background on all of the street gutters. It was so much fun!” said Cindy Sordo, a senior at McDaniel. “I like being able to walk down the street and see what I've done. “

Sordo participated in the Westminster Clean Up last year for her first time and is registered to volunteer on Saturday. “It makes a big difference when you are changing the environment you live in, that you interact with every day.”

Sordo is among many returning college students participating again this year. Omar Brown, also a senior at McDaniel College has participated the last three years. In the past he has painted the skate park and helped an elderly neighbor clean up her yard.

“My favorite aspect of the cleanup is the camaraderie that McDaniel students and the community share during the day of cleaning, and the relationships that evolve from that event,” Brown shared.

The clean up to take place this Saturday is also the kick-off for the inaugural week of Dr. Roger Casey, president of McDaniel College.

“Dr. Casey has been extremely enthusiastic about McDaniel being involved in the Westminster Community,” Raphael explained, “this is a true display of that.”