The Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs partnered for an Earth Day cleanup on April 22, which brought together 10 DPS team members and 128 Greek members from 47 chapters to volunteer their time and effort to clean up the east neighborhood in Syracuse. The cleanup covered Ostrom Pl., Ostrom Ave., Livingston Ave., Sumner Ave., Ackerman Ave, Lancaster Ave., Redfield Pl., Clarendon St., Maryland Ave. and Thornden Park. A full truckload of garbage was picked up and disposed of at Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency’s refuse facility.
The idea for the cleanup event stemmed from Associate Vice President and Chief of DPS Craig Stone, and DPS led the coordination of locations and details. While it was the first time organizing such an event, the turnout and end result left a lasting impression on those involved and an excitement to continue this next year.
“I was immensely impressed with the turnout for the neighborhood cleanup. Over 100 students took time out of their Saturday morning to help make a positive difference for our campus community,” said Stone. “DPS is looking forward to continuing this initiative in the future.”
“Seeing our student volunteers and members of the DPS team work together was awe-inspiring and truly indicative of what it means to be part of the Syracuse University community. This is the first of many Earth Day events sponsored by DPS and we look forward to partnering with Fraternity and Sorority Affairs going forward in regard to this most worthy cause,” added DPS Sergeant John A. Stephens.
Shane Corridore, a junior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and member of Sigma Alpha Mu, reflected, “The most meaningful part was just seeing how many people decided to be there and help out. The vibe was amazing, and everyone had a good time helping the community.”
“Service is a core value of the fraternity and sorority community, so when DPS approached us with this idea, we knew our chapter members would be eager to volunteer to make a difference in the local area,” said Tiffany Dennett, director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs. “We expect this will become a staple of the many service projects our chapters support throughout the year.”
Story by Student Experience communications intern Wanshi Zhang ’23