About Green & Clean Day
On the first Friday of May each year, Downtown Akron is overrun with volunteers clad in “safety green” shirts putting a deep clean on the Downtown footprint. Green & Clean projects focus on making a vibrant impact, going beyond the regular services of the Downtown Akron Partnership's Clean Team. The goal of the event is to engage the community in making our Downtown “vibrant and valuable.” During the Downtown Green & Clean event business employees and community members form teams and do projects around their own Downtown property or are assigned tasks within the district. Each team member receives a t-shirt, goodie bag and a lunch celebration.
Green & Clean 2012 will take place May 4th.
Green & Clean Day is a part of Keep Akron Beautiful's Clean Up Akron Week/Great American Cleanup™.
How to Volunteer
Morning or afternoon shifts are available. Teams benefit by taking ownership of the Downtown they use to work or play. Help DAP achieve its goal of showcasing the wide-range of support for a valuable and vibrant Downtown. Form a team of colleagues and sign up today to help us keep our Downtown a destination for everyone.
For more information please contact Rich Hoselton at 330-374-7676 or rhoselton@downtownakron.com.
4th Annual Green & Clean Day a Great Success!
They came. They saw. They cleaned.
You might notice a little extra shine in Downtown Akron.
That's because more than 300 people - mainly volunteers from downtown businesses - helped with the annual spring cleaning project that went well beyond Lock 3. You couldn't miss them, wearing florescent green shirts that dotted both sides of South Main Street itself and at least a couple of blocks both east and west.
While picking up trash and pulling some weeds are big parts of the effort, this work gets even more detailed: Washing down the bus stop shelters, mulching, cleaning building marquees and even scraping gum off the sidewalks. Here is a sampling of volunteer accomplishments:
|
Areas landscaped/Mulched |
18 |
|
Ash urns washed/painted |
29 |
|
Windows cleaned |
75 |
|
Blocks of sidewalk swept |
40 |
|
Bus shelters cleaned |
12 |
|
Tree grates cleaned |
206 |
|
Railings Painted (linear feet) |
500 |
|
Paper boxes washed |
46 |
|
Trash bags filled |
110 |
|
Parking lots cleane |
18 |
|
Touch up Light poles/Meters |
100 |
|
Trash Can Lids Painted |
51 |
|
Picnic Tables cleaned |
28 |
|
Planters Washed/Cleaned |
41 |
People seemed to have a sense of pride.
"I think everybody takes pride in what they do at the end of the day, saying that they did their part to make this look better," said Bobby, who was prepping some metal railings at Lock 3 as another member of his team followed behind with black paint.
Others mentioned an economic return.
"It helps attract companies to want to come down here because of how nice downtown is being kept," said a volunteer, working near Canal Park.
Some of the volunteers say that even though there was plenty to keep them busy, they think the downtown area seems to be staying a little cleaner every year.
Green and Clean Day is put together by the Downtown Akron Partnership, with the cooperation of the City of Akron, County of Summit and Keep Akron Beautiful.
A HUGE thank you to the more than 325 volunteers that were part of this day. Thank you for investing in YOUR Downtown!
The following businesses and organizations participated in Green & Clean Day 2011:
22 Exchange, Akron Area YMCA, Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com, Akron General Health System, Akron Pregnancy Services, Akron Summit Community Action, Akron Society of Artists, Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau, Alpha Phi Sorority, AMHA, APG Office Furnishings, Arcadis, Artist of Rubber City, Beauty Lounge, Bruner Cox LLP, Cascade Plaza Associates LLC, CB Richard Ellis, City of Akron, Community Legal Aid, County of Summit, County of Summit DD Board, Earth Fare, F. Lee’s Tax & Accounting Services, FirstMerit Bank, GOJO, Hattie’s Bakery and Library Café, High Street Christian Church, John S. Knight Center, Keep Akron Beautiful, KeyBank, NIHF STEM School, Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, The Peanut Shoppe, PNC, Road Runner Akron Marathon, Stage Left at the Civic Theatre, Summa Health System, SummaCare, Summit County Common Pleas Court-Gen. Div., Summit County Historical Society, Summit County Youth Employment for Success, Time Warner Cable and Whitespace Creative.
