Various members of the Clarksdale community came together Saturday morning as part of the first Community Cleanup Day.
There were more than 40 individuals who showed up to help clean up a portion of Clarksdale, said Todd Bailey, the youth minister at Clarksdale Baptist Church and one of the organizers of the event.
The group gathered at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Anderson Boulevard near Heidelberg Elementary School and cleaned up the lot that used to house the Village Drug Store, Village Grocery, a café, liquor store and barber shop. There were several large piles of bags filled with debris and trash, along with broken tree limbs gathered from the site.
The volunteers also traveled south on Anderson Boulevard to its intersection with Catalpa Street, cleaning out storm drains and gathering trash from the roadside. Most of the work was completed in a three-hour time frame.
“We covered a lot of area in a short time. When you have the manpower, you can cover a lot of ground,” Bailey said. “These were people just trying to do their part. The most awesome part was that a whole lot of churches came together.”
Among those taking part in Saturday’s cleanup were members of Pleasant Valley Baptist, Clarksdale Baptist, Sunshine Missionary Baptist and Union Grove Missionary Baptist churches.
“It was the first time in a long time all the churches came together to make a difference,” Bailey said.
And it wasn’t just church members who took part in the cleanup.
Antonio Walker is a sophomore at Clarksdale High School and lives across the street from the vacant lot where all the work was being done Saturday. He looked out his window, saw all the work being done and he and his friend, Vandarrius Turner, of Shelby, decided to come over and assist.
“We just wanted to help,” Walker said during a break from pulling weeds and picking up trash and litter. “This place was a mess. It looks so much better now.”
John Givins, pastor of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, said Saturday’s event ties in with the city of Clarksdale’s Jericho Project, which is slated for the last week of April.
The week is based on the Biblical passage Joshua Chapter 6 that describes the destruction of Jericho and the walls that surround it. The Joshua Week organizers are hoping to tear down the walls of racism and other deterrents that they believe prevent progress in Clarksdale.
Saturday’s community cleanup ties in with the first day of Jericho Week, April 28, which will be devoted to a Day of Improvement. Other days and their themes are April 29 (Day of Love), April 30 (Day of Equity), May 1 (Day of Good News), May 2 (Day of Peace), May 3 (Day of Service) and May 4 (Day of Praise).
The week will culminate on May 4 with a march from downtown to Crumpton Field on Lee Drive where there will be a community celebration and picnic.
“It could be a wonderful thing for our community,” Bailey said.
Those involved with organizing the first Community Cleanup Day are scheduled to meet Thursday to plan their next event. The group has been working hand-in-hand with the Clarksdale Beautification Committee, which recently received funding from the city of Clarksdale to plant and provide upkeep to the numerous planters located downtown.
Bailey said they have ambitious plans, including monthly cleanups and starting up community gardens on a number of vacant city-owned lots that lie in residential areas.
“That would be a lot better than just having an empty lot sitting there,” he said. “You have to have a starting point. It would be incredible if this could become a monthly event.”
