Sun Village Clean Up Day in Chester

Nicole Cogdell, Mayor John Linder, Rahim King

More than two hundred volunteers of the Sun Village section of Chester City turned out on Saturday at 8:00AM to begin the first community clean up of 2012 inside the City of Chester. 

Twelve to Fifteen blocks of the Sun Village residency were revitalized by both residents of the area and outlying blocks. 

The City of Chester Streets Department led by Councilwoman Portia West supplied the nearly three hundred utility bags which were filled with mostly bulk trash by day’s end, in addition to volunteer work from Streets Department personnel. 

Hon. Mayor John Linder, Councilwoman, Director of Chester City Department of Parks, Recreation, and Public Property, Elizabeth Williams, and Councilman, Director of Chester City Department of Public Safety William Jacobs also joined senior citizen, adult and child volunteers from Concerned Citizens, Sun Village United, Chester City Police Chaplains, Freedom Baptist Church, True Vine Church, The Office of District Attorney Jack Whelan, The Office of U.S. Attorney Robert Reed, and CID Chief, Joe Ryan in recovery efforts. 

Parks and Recreation personnel were on hand to provide supplies for clean up including brooms, rakes, shovels, and more than one hundred pairs of workman gloves. City Team Ministries supplied free snacks for all participants. 

Eight to ten citizens per block mowed lawns, pulled weeds, collected trash, and continued the beautification of their own neighborhood and park areas. Mayor Linder, “Safer streets begin with taking pride in our own neighborhoods. Sun Village residents have proved what uniting under a common goal can make possible for everyone.”

The Chester City Department of Community Liaisons has played an instrumental role in encouraging local residents to take back their neighborhoods and make them enjoyable for all. Community Liaison Nicole Cogdell, “I encourage everyone to join us in our weekly Community Listening Sessions, built specifically to yield outcomes like today. I am a proud member of the Chester Community, and what my Chester family has done today, is exactly why. Well done, Sun Village, well done, Chester.” 

Community Liaison, Jonathan Rahim King has placed an emphasis to echo Ms. Cogdell’s request of the residents, “We are taking the next Community Listening Session to 9^th and Kerlin Trinity United Methodist Church, Pastor Hilda Campbell. We hear you, and we are coming.”