University City Volunteers Make A Difference

UNIVERSITY CITY, MO — Since 1992, millions of volunteers have cleaned up their communities as part of Make A Difference Day, one of the largest annual days of service nationwide. Originally a single-day event scheduled for Feb. 29 — 1992 was a leap year — the project morphed into an annual event held on the fourth Saturday of October.

University City Mayor Shelley Welsch said the city has been participating since 2010, and that hundreds of volunteers have participated in clean-ups of Olive Boulevard, the River Des Peres and other areas. "We were the first city in the State of Missouri to take part," she said.

The city earned national recognition when it won a Make A Difference Day Award in 2014.

This year, the city offered an added incentive, St. Louis Public Radio reports, granting participants amnesty from minor infractions like traffic tickets or building code violations:

University City councilman Rod Jennings said he was inspired to combine the events because some older residents had housing code violations.

“They thought University City was trying to take their home. They couldn’t afford to do the work. Some of them couldn’t even physically get to court, you know because of age or some other ailments,” Jennings said.

About a dozen people signed up for the chance at amnesty, which Jennings said would clear their arrest warrant and give them a new court date.

The city partnered with community-empowerment group Better Family Life, housing-assistance charity Habitat For Humanity, and Mt. Gideon Missionary Baptist Church. Volunteers did a "clean sweep" of alleys in the northeast part of the city, Welsch said, picking up trash and clearing brush, and carried out minor home repairs for local seniors, some of whom requested assistance more than eight months ago.

Read more from St. Louis Public Radio.

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