On August 22nd – the Saturday following a busy Orientation Week – a group of newly minted Temple Law students took a break from their studies to participate in the semester’s first community service project. The twelve volunteers made their way to the Glenwood neighborhood just north of the law school campus to pitch in, along with community members and residents of a nearby halfway house, to clean up several blocks just east of Broad Street.
The service day was organized in collaboration with Philly Rising by the Law School’s Director of Public Interest Programs, Lisa Hurlbutt, and 37th Ward Committeeperson Denise Armstrong, who lives and organizes clean-ups almost weekly in the neighborhood. Glenwood has long faced the challenges of a high poverty and crime rate. Ms. Armstrong emphasized that the impact of the law students’ efforts went beyond the clean-up itself. Noting that only a small number of neighborhood residents typically participate in the clean-ups, she said, “Nobody has to come out and do anything. It’s great to see that people are concerned. Seeing volunteers who don’t live here helping out can make more residents of the neighborhood come out and try to make things different.”
Pictured left to right, above, are: Shawn Bachman, Roxanna West, Enoch Jones, Rob Kumor, an unnamed neighborhood resident, Denise Armstrong, Matt Leili, Priya Mehta, George Xia, Khalia Brown, Chris Hernandez, Danielle DerOhannesian, and Veronica Schad.