2013 Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up

5th Annual Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up

The multiple award winning 5th Annual Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up, collaboration between the Oneida County Youth Bureau, the Oneida County Office for the Aging and Continuing Care, Oneida County colleges, school districts and youth organizations had 575 youth volunteers deliver general yard clean-up services to 110 senior citizen locations county-wide. The Mohawk Valley Regional Volunteer Center recognized the initiative with a Celebrate Service/National Volunteer Week mini grant award of $250 this spring. The initiative was recognized by the Albany Guardian Society in 2010.

“The success of our Annual Intergenerational Spring and Fall Clean-Ups is a direct result of our dedicated, committed and hardworking youth volunteers and their mentors,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said. Picente added, “Our Oneida County senior citizens, who no longer can physically do the work or financially afford to have the work done for them, have benefitted tremendously from their volunteer efforts. They continue to remind us that there is good in our youth, in our world and Oneida County is a special place to live.”

The 575 incredible youth volunteers, the most volunteers for any of our clean-ups, represented the following colleges, school districts and youth organizations; Hamilton College’s Women’s Basketball Team,  Men’s Basketball Team, Women’s Ice Hockey Team and Student Assembly, Mohawk Valley Community College’s Latino Student Union, Welders Among Communities, Returning Adult Students Association, GEAR UP Club, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and International Club, Utica College’s Men’s Hockey Team, Football Team, Theta Phi Alpha, Physical Therapist Society and Circle K Club, Proctor High School’s Key Club, Youth Construction Initiative Program and Young Scholars Program, Camden Central High School Athletics, the Slavic Pentecostal Youth Organization, The Underground Café, John Bosco House, Whitesboro Central High School’s Boys’ Basketball Program and Girls’ Softball Program, New Hartford Central High School’s Football Team and Boys’ Soccer Team, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central High School’s Interact Club and National Honor Society, The House of the Good Shepherd, the Rome Free Academy Football Team, Upstate Cerebral Palsy Utica Campus, Upstate Cerebral Palsy Rome Campus, Notre Dame Junior/Senior High School’s Boys’ Basketball Team and National Honor Society, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Confirmation Class, Sauquoit Valley Central High School’s National Honor Society, Boy Scout Troop 21 Revolutionary Trails Council, Boy Scout Troop 502 Revolutionary Trails Council and the Humiston family from Rome.

“I have been honored and extremely fortunate to have met and worked with these remarkable young men and women and their mentors,” Youth Bureau Director Bob Roth said. Roth added, “I’m continually amazed at their willingness to help, their amazing work ethic, their wonderful, upbeat personalities and their unparalleled commitment to community.”

The 5th Annual Intergenerational Fall Clean-Up is scheduled for Saturday October 26th and Sunday October 27th, 2013. The 6th Annual Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up is scheduled for Saturday April 19th and Sunday April 20th, 2014. Any youth organization interested in volunteering should contact the Oneida County Youth Bureau at 798-5027. Any senior citizen interested in having their yard cleaned should contact the Oneida County Office for the Aging and Continuing Care at 798-5456.