The Children's Aid Society

College Students Help Clean-up Local Bronx Park

Leading by example is a quality that the Children's Aid Society believes in and instills into each and every one of the youth we serve. Recently, students from our EXCEL College Scholarship program showed why they are indeed the leaders of the future by participating in a community service project in the South Bronx.

On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, twelve students eagerly arrived at Crotona Park in the early afternoon ready to work alongside parks staff to help clean up area and repaint the popular handball court. Using a divide and conquer strategy, the groups split with several students donning gloves and picking up rakes and shovels to return the park to it usually pristine state picking up trash and debris following a field trip by an area school. The remaining students facing a gigantic 25 ft wall armed with paint rollers and extension poles tackled both sides of the wall as they removed graffiti and old and peeling paint.

After a few hours of productive work, the students were rewarded with a beautifully restored space that will be used by the community, the thanks of an appreciative parks dept staff, and the knowledge that they accomplished a task that exemplified the responsible young adults they have become.

Special thanks for NYC Park Department and the Crotona Park staff for all their help with this project.