By NECN
Tired of watching your neighborhood struggle with hard-to-solve issues? But wish there was something simple and constructive you could do to make your own neighborhood a better place?
AdoptOneBlock is a new nonprofit that — like the Adopt-a-Spot projects elsewhere in the United States — creates an online system for local residents to organize themselves in cleaning up their neighborhoods.
It’s free, it’s easy, and the organization sends the supplies you need right to your door: Gloves, bags, buckets, trash picker devices — even containers for sharps if you think it’s necessary.
All you need to do is go online and sign up for a block that hasn’t already been covered.
“AdoptOneBlock has reimagined the way we make our city cleaner and happier,” says founder Frank Moscow.
Moscow stresses there are “no meetups, no commuting to volunteer, no scheduling to volunteer, no organizations to join, no fundraising.”
It really is fast and easy: enter your address at www.adoptoneblock.org, choose a block, and order the clean up supplies — all delivered within a week or two via Amazon.
To make it fun, Moscow and operations manager Olivia Langley host a lively Instagram account where volunteers post images of themselves and their families filling up buckets and bags with street trash.
Picking up trash may sound tiring or dull, but no doubt about it: participants are having fun. A LOT of people: AdoptOneBlock’s Facebook page has 1.2k members and counting.
In their first 8 months, Moscow says he and his crew have recruited more than 4,200 volunteers, aka “Block Ambassadors,” consistently picking up one or more blocks in the Portland area. That adds up to more than 4,800 blocks cleaned on a weekly basis.
And it’s growing.
Starting in June, any Portland resident Block Ambassador with AdoptOneBlock who collects too much litter from their blocks can email Portlandcomeback@1800gotjunk.com for a pickup.
1-800-GOT-JUNK? will schedule a free-of-charge pick up within 24 hours of the Block Ambassador’s request. AdoptOneBlock will cover all pickup costs at a discounted rate.
“We enable anyone to care for the block they love the most, when and how they want, with clean up supplies we deliver for free,” Moscow says.
Find more information at www.adoptoneblock.org.