Oswald Harris Court saw a little more activity than usual Saturday morning, when public servants and community members united to pick up trash, and lift the community’s spirit in the process.
The Virgin Islands Housing Authority spearheaded Saturday’s cleanup, a more intense version of its regular daily maintenance of community housing projects. The plans were drafted in April and the cleanup initially scheduled for mid May, but that effort fell through.
Organizers were not discouraged, however, and immediately rescheduled another cleanup two weeks later.
“I want to implement this in each one of the housing communities at least twice a year,” said Derrick Venzen, community project specialist for Housing Authority. “It’s just for the community to come out and acknowledge that this is your community, it’s where you live.”
According to Venzen, Housing Authority enjoyed the support of community organizations such as My Brother’s Workshop and Project Safe Neighborhoods in these efforts, as well as representatives from senators that they approached to help out with manpower.
“We understand that when you talk about making changes in the community, about revitalizing it and turning it around, it would begin with the small things,” said Rudolph Krigger, legislative researcher in the office of Sen. Clarence Payne. “It would begin with redeveloping that sense of community, of shared effort and cooperation.”
Venzen was also pleased that various commercial establishments, including Cost U Less, Pueblo, Seachest Ace and Bellows International, chipped in financially or donated much needed cleaning supplies.
“We just gave them a list of things that could be given to us, like cleaning products, bleach, masks, gloves and garbage bags,” shared Venzen.
At 9 a.m. Saturday, a scattering of volunteers and Housing Authority employees could be seen picking up trash and cutting grass around the playground, on the streets and around housing buildings, focusing on trash-prone areas of the neighborhood.
“This is a trouble spot right here,” said Housing Authority employee Keith Roy Greenaway, pointing to a tree on a street corner. “They lime here and stuff, sit down, and they throw stuff on the ground.”
Eunice Kingston, Oswald Harris Court property manager for Housing Authority, took a break from her usual duties of rules enforcement and collections to get the community together for the cleanup. As the day progressed, more and more families came out of their homes to lend a hand. According to Venzen, they tried to get Oswald Harris Court families to come out not just for the cleanup, but for some food and music afterwards.
“It’s not really dirty,” said Kingston. “But we do want to have the community come out and really help out, to have more pride in themselves and in their community.”
For organizers, Saturday’s cleanup was more than just picking up trash; it was about raising community pride and rekindling the spirit of community among residents of Oswald Harris Court. Venzen and Kingston both said they hope to eventually have family fun nights and basketball tournaments in the housing projects.
“Yes, we hope we’ll have more community effort and involvement, maybe have a couple more cleanups down the road,” said Kingston. “But hopefully it could lead to having family nights, having fun stuff for families to do, and getting back that confidence and having families feel safe to be out in the community.”