2014 Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up

6th Annual Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up

The multiple award winning 6th 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 325 youth volunteers deliver general yard clean-up services to 81 senior citizen locations county-wide. This spring the East Utica Optimist Club gave a generous donation to the Oneida County Office for the Aging and Continuing Care’s 501C3, (non-profit) Community Elder Wellness Council, allowing us to add to our rake, broom and tarp inventory.

“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 325 remarkable  youth volunteers were representatives of 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 Men’s and Women’s Golf Teams, Utica College’s Men’s Hockey Team, Theta Phi Alpha Group, Alpha Phi Omega Petitioning Group, Organization of Justice Studies, Circle K Club, Physical Therapist Society and ICU Introduction to Aging, Mohawk Valley Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Welders Among Communities, Returning Adult Students Association, International Club, Criminal Justice Club and GEAR UP Club, Utica Safe Schools/Healthy Students, The Underground Café, Boy Scout Troop 21 Revolutionary Trails Council, Notre Dame High School’s Boys’ Varsity Baseball Team, Proctor High School’s Key Club, Youth Construction Initiative Program and Young Scholars Program, AmeriCorps, Kids Oneida, Upstate Cerebral Palsy Utica Campus, John Bosco House, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School’s Interact Club and National Honor Society, Utica Academy of Science Charter School, the Slavic Pentecostal Youth Organization, Remsen Central High School’s Government Class, New Hartford Central High School’s Football Team, Project Purple and National Honor Society and Camden Middle School Heartfelt Helping Hands and LEADS.

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

The 6th Annual Intergenerational Fall Clean-Up is scheduled for Saturday October 25th and Sunday October 26th, 2014. The 7th Annual Intergenerational Spring Clean-Up is scheduled for Saturday April 25th and Sunday April 26th, 2015. 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.