Giving Back by Adopting a Street

For those who want to give back to their community, there’s no better way to do so than through a cleanup. Not only is there an immediate and noticeable difference in the environment, cleanups also provide an opportunity for volunteers to socialize with their neighbors. They are often organized through nonprofit organizations or as part of a company’s corporate social responsibility initiative. Odds are, you or someone you know have participated in at least one.

Megan Free, OMS II, not only grew up attending cleanup events, she adopted both the road where she lived and the trail where she ran. Naturally, when she started her medical school career at RVU, she began looking into adopting the roads around RVU’s Colorado campus. The first step was to apply through the Town (I think it’s officially Town of Parker) of Parker; SD Free also attended a Parker Volunteer Opportunity event. “I thought it was a great way to get involved in the community, and it fit my roles as the Wellness Representative [for the Class Council] and as the Volunteer Coordinator for Sigma Sigma Phi.”

With the support of these student organizations, SD Free adopted Chambers Road and Compark Road. By fall semester, she was organizing monthly cleanups, which were mostly attended by members of the Class Council and Sigma Sigma Phi.

Currently, SD Free is preparing for her third-year rotations and will pass her responsibilities for organizing the cleanups to whoever assumes the positions she holds on the Class Council and Sigma Sigma Phi. Her hope is that the cleanups will continue on a monthly basis and a new class of students will sign up to volunteer.

Any and all events referenced in the article above took place before the implementation of measures to safeguard the RVU community from the COVID-19 pandemic. No student-led or University-affiliated events have taken place on or off campus since March 16, 2020.