Earth Day 2013 @ Verdese Carter Park

It was a beautiful day in East Oakland at Verdese Carter Park, with over 50 participants. Keep Oakland Beautiful was able to clean up the park, work on the community garden, and make the median in front of the park look beautiful. Youth of all ages helped out at the park–the youngest participants were 4 years old.

It is always great to see youth at events like Earth Day because they are allowed to learn valuable leadership skills through service learning projects. This Earth Day event was successful in bringing out members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Omicron Theta Lambda Oakland-Hayward Graduate Chapter, members of DaVita Healthcare Partners Incorporated, Council Member Larry Reid, and Mayor Jean Quan. Volunteers ran out of time to spread all of the mulch piles within the Bancroft medians. However, volunteers gathered approximately 25 bags of dead vegetation and 10 bags of trash inside the 9600 Bancroft Median. Volunteers also gathered 8 bags of trash and 4 bags of dead vegetation inside the interior and exterior of Verdese Carter Park. Dwayne Aikens, Board Member of Keep Oakland Beautiful and co-founder of We Lead