{"id":7096,"date":"2013-08-18T10:44:14","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T14:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7096"},"modified":"2013-08-18T10:44:14","modified_gmt":"2013-08-18T14:44:14","slug":"events-spotlight-importance-of-citys-young-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7096","title":{"rendered":"Events spotlight importance of city’s young people"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recycling, cleanup, and backpack drive bring Coatesville’s youth together<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kyle Carrozza<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>Staff Writer, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"CYI<\/a>

CYI members and Sgt. Rodger Ollis stand in front of tires collected during city cleanup. The CYI took the tires for recycling.<\/p><\/div>\n

COATESVILLE \u2013 Helping the community is not just about individual actions but creating a climate where everyone wants to improve his or her surroundings.<\/p>\n

This message seemed to be a common theme for the Coatesville Recycling and Living Green Festival, the Back to School Cleanup, and two back-to-school drives, all of which took place on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Organized by the Coatesville Youth Initiative, the Coatesville Recycling and Living Green Festival gathered Initiative members and volunteers for kids\u2019 activities, a book giveaway, and a day of recycling awareness in Gateway Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get the community excited about making sure it\u2019s clean,\u201d said Chaya Scott, Director of the Coatesville Youth Initiative.<\/p>\n

The festival allowed citizens to drop off recyclables, which were collected and sorted by Initiative members. More than just cans and bottles, items collected included tires, appliances, electronics, and scrap metal. Part of the reason behind collecting such a wide variety of items was to educate the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t really know what they can and can\u2019t recycle,\u201d said Program Coordinator Mena Badros.<\/p>\n

\"Festival<\/a>

Festival attendees turn recycled goods into art. The daylong festival was full of activities for children.<\/p><\/div>\n

Associate Coordinator for the CYI Sam Brown agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people say they recycle, but some people aren\u2019t fully aware of how to recycle properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a part of the awareness efforts, Waste Oil Recyclers, Inc. was present. With a facility in Modena, the company collects used cooking oil and turns it into fuel. Throughout the summer, the CYI helped with its MoGreena Garden Project, which has contributed 600 lbs. of vegetables to the Chester County Food Bank this year.<\/p>\n

But the day was about more than just recycling. Along with the sun-drenched day, free books, games for kids, a moon bounce, and dancing all contributed to the festive atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to have a way to bring the community together,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to have parents get involved with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing the community together provided a chance for students to gain experience in event organization and coordination. Though Badros oversaw the preparation, which started eight weeks ago, he said the students did most of the planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the leaders of the city, moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cBy getting the youth involved, they take ownership and feel a sense of responsibility to their community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Divided into four groups, Initiative members organized entertainment, vendors, logistics, and marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids get to see the planning, how committees work together,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThe experience teaches them better than we ever could.\u201d<\/p>\n

CYI members echoed the sentiment that they want to be citizens who care for the city and influence others to care as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids can\u2019t play in the streets if there\u2019s glass,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIf we work together, we can make the community better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to clean up those streets, the Coatesville Parks and Recreation Committee, along with the Community Policing Committee, held its Back to School Cleanup on Saturday.<\/p>\n

CYI volunteers, Brandywine Health Foundation CEO and President Frances Sheehan, and city residents cleaned up trash and collected recyclables downtown. The materials collected went to Gateway Park to be sorted by the CYI. Coatesville Sgt. Rodger Ollis and Community Policing Committee members did some heavy lifting, collecting a truck full of tires for recycling.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>

Students collect backpacks from Saturday’s backpack drive at the Community Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

A backpack drive arranged by the Helping Hand Relief Fund and the Derrick Morgan Youth Foundation capped off the day. Around 200 kids came to the Coatesville Memorial Community Center to prepare for the coming school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to give back to your community if you have the opportunity to,\u201d said Miguel Torres, the Derrick Morgan Youth Foundation volunteer who planned the event.<\/p>\n

Though Morgan could not make it, as his Tennessee Titans had a game Saturday night, the 2007 graduate\u2019s foundation will look to get more involved with the community in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny type of organized event that helps the youth will keep them out of trouble, keep them focused on bigger things,\u201d said Torres. \u201cEspecially coming from people who are from this area who made it, it gives them hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it be through gaining experiences with the CYI to become better citizens, seeing their city cleaned and improved, or someone who went on to do big things giving back to the community, Coatesville\u2019s youth and former youth showed their influence on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recycling, cleanup, and backpack drive bring Coatesville’s youth together By Kyle Carrozza,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times COATESVILLE \u2013 Helping the community is not just about individual actions but creating a climate where everyone wants to improve his or her surroundings. This message seemed to be a common theme for the Coatesville Recycling and Living Green Festival, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,1],"tags":[2688,680,11,2687,2689,258,437,2690,1935,21,2686,2684,2685],"class_list":["post-7096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-brandywine-health-foundation-ceo-and-president-frances-sheehan","tag-chaya-scott","tag-chester-county-food-bank","tag-coatesville-parks-and-recreation-committee","tag-coatesville-sgt-rodger-ollis","tag-coatesville-youth-initiative","tag-community-policing-committee","tag-derrick-morgan-youth-foundation","tag-mena-badros","tag-modena","tag-mogreena","tag-recycling-and-living-green-festival","tag-waste-oil-recyclers-inc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}