MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Some Memphis teens volunteered to clean up their city despite the heat.
Workforce Investment Network or WIN organized the event which the group said teaches teens valuable leadership skills.
About 150 young people, mostly teenagers picked up trash in Downtown Memphis.
“It was very heartbreaking because I saw beer bottles. I actually saw mattresses. I was like ‘this is not even the trashcan, why is it here?'” said Renikia Love; a volunteer.
The volunteers were happy to clean up the piles of trash.
“Because it’s Memphis. This is where we live, this is where I grew up,” said Love.
WIN is teaming up with another non-profit, Clean Memphis to teach young volunteers the importance of clean neighborhoods.
“Just cleaning up the community because I think Memphis needs this because, we have so many people that throw everything on the ground and don’t care about how they do things,” said Van Johnson, a volunteer.
The beautification project is teaching volunteers leadership skills.
The teens targeted areas like Foote Homes and Beale in downtown Memphis.
The second part of the day consisted of working on a community action plan teaching them how to give back and make their communities safer.
