More than 200 volunteers are expected to participate in the all-Rosedale Cleanup and Cookout from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13.
Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. in Fisher Park to get supplies and assignments, and then will fan out around the area to work on cleanup projects. They will meet back at Fisher Park, at Fisher and West 39th, for a catered picnic lunch at noon.
Erin Stryka, executive director of the Rosedale Development Association, which is coordinating the event, said the volunteers will clean up graffiti, pick up litter and remove brush.
“A really enthusiastic group is showing up this year, and will get a lot done,” Stryka said.
The theme of the RDA events, including this National Volunteer Week event, is residents building a people-powered neighborhood culture.
The volunteers include sorority and fraternity members, school employees, medical professionals, Scout den leaders, and Rotary Club members, as well as residents and neighbors.
One teacher at Noble Prentis School, who said Rosedale helps the school a lot, plans to help at the cleanup, and will bring her sorority sisters.
One neighbor who participates in the Rosedale activities said that she lives there because she feels connected to a community.
The event has received donations of supplies and equipment from businesses and governments, including a wood chipper truck from Green Solutions Tree Service, and gloves, snacks and bottled water from the University of Kansas Department of Otolaryngology, Stryka said.
Also donating to the event were the Unified Government Operation Brightside and the University of Kansas Office of Student Affairs. Litter bags, a dumpster, and the catered lunch were donated.
While the weather on Saturday may be cool, “we’ll be working hard and we’ll stay warm,” Stryka said.