Davenport youth stay out of trouble by volunteering in their community

(KWQC)
Published: Apr. 26, 2018 at 10:34 PM CDT
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The sidewalks and streets around Gaines and 14th Street s were swarming with youth early Thursday evening, armed with trash bags and trash sticks.

“Every Thursday at 5 o’clock we’re going to start over here at 14th and Gaines,” said Lonnie Westerfield with Hoopin for Change. “We’re going to do this for the whole summer.”

Beyond the Baseline added this community volunteering opportunity to its arsenal of youth-oriented programs.

Westerfield says it is a chance to bring the community together and keep kids and teens out of trouble.

“We don't want their mind to run too freely so we're going to keep them busy and keep them active,” Westerfield said.

More than a dozen kids, teens and adults spent an hour Thursday evening in the neighborhood south of Locust picking up discarded water bottles, cigarette buds and other trash.

“I just like helping my community out and I just love to see people doing positive things,” said 14-year-old Jayden Graves.

He says it can be easy to fall in with the wrong group and head down a dark path.

“The kids I used to hang around weren’t doing good things and then my mom came in and she’s like a she wants me to do good,” Graves said.

Joining the Hoopin for Change basketball league and getting involved in volunteering efforts Graves says changed his life.

“If I wasn't doing stuff like I'd probably be in juvenile [detention] and stuff like that,” Graves said.

Neighbors out on their porches cheered Graves and the other youth’s efforts.

“It’s such a positive thing,” said neighbor Rachel Williams. “We need that. We need more positive enforcement in the community.”

It is a sentiment Westerfield hopes to see foster change and renewed community pride.

“It can give people hope,” Westerfield said. “Someone might come out and see you picking the trash up, and we got a lot of people saying thank you, and we can go by that same house and see there's no trash there.”

Hoopin for Change plans to meet at the corner of Gaines and 14th Streets through the summer. They say all are welcome to join the effort.