In recent weeks, President Barack Obama raised the profile of the National Day of Service in the ramp-up to his inauguration. The idea is more than a decade old, but this year more than 12,000 projects were organized nationwide thanks to Obama's presidential call to action.
A handful of events happened in Kansas City. One of those aimed to clean up an East Side thoroughfare.
Rachael Hoffman was easy to spot Monday morning, given her evergreen knit cap and her proximity to a pile of trash bags near the corner of 31st Street and Troost Avenue. The street was lined with cars. Parents with ski-jacketed kids and a few professionals wearing business attire wandered the street with yellow, plastic bags fluttering behind them.
The short-notice effort was organized by Hoffman. "I live close by and I thought, why not?" she said, smiling brightly despite the finger-freezing temperatures. "I have the day off and there's lots of trash."
Hoffman, an organizer for Communities Creating Opportunities, said she hoped six or seven people would show up, but the crowd outpaced her expectations. By 10 a.m. she had 40 volunteers slinging trash from 31st to 44th Street.
"It's a wonderful idea: thousands of people doing service today," she said of the national effort.
Here were a few of the faces on Troost.
Comments (0)