The Stand
The A-OK! Acts of Kindness Weekend volunteer efforts held Sept. 10 & 11 throughout Syracuse’s South Side were covered by a group of The Stand’s Community Correspondents including The Kirk Park Clean Up by Ruthnie Angrand, Vickie Patterson & Laura Finkbeiner; the Stone Soup Garden by Miguel Balbuena, and the Veteran Build by Rasheeda Alford.
KIRK PARK
Two longtime residents of the South Side, Sue Wentworth and her daughter-in-law Valerie Wentworth, teamed up to help continue the clean up efforts they started several weeks ago. They worked diligently in the warm sunny heat to help restore the positive view of Kirk Park in an area most people may rarely notice.
“The South Side doesn’t have a great reputation due to a lot of violence that has occurred over the years,” Sue said. [But the park] is a great place for families to come and relax and have an enjoyable time in their neighborhood.”
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VETERAN BUILD
Celebrating 26 years of providing service to Onondaga County, Habitat for Humanity has launched the first ever Veteran Build in New York State.
The announcement to go forward with the premier project was made on Veterans Day 2010, and construction began in April 2011. The two homes currently inhabit Syracuse’s Southwest area on Fitch Street, and over A-OK Weekend, volunteer Kip Coerper was found working on one home.
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STONE SOUP GARDEN
Most people would be happy to kill two birds with one stone. However, Matt Brubaker isn’t content just with that. He wanted to kill six birds with one stone by volunteering on Sept. 10 at the Stone Soup Community Garden on the 400 block of Gifford Street.
He wanted to assist building a wood shed for storing tools and other materials, sharpen his gardening skills, support sustainability practices, work together with the community through collaboration with other volunteers, give back to the neighborhood and help the community learn about gardening.
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