Clearing a path

Northaven cleans up walkways to help children get to school safely

If we build a stronger community, we’ll have more successful students coming to school. That’s why these efforts are so important to us.” Adriane Glover, Northaven Elementary intervention specialist

In the three minutes it takes Marquavion Green to walk to school, he sees “dogs, cats, and a lot of trash.”

The fifth-grade Northaven Elementary student joined fellow Northaven community members and volunteers from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department, the groups Clean Memphis and Impact Ministries Saturday morning for the “Clear My Path Home” community project.

“Now we won’t have to walk in the street,” said 10-year-old Marquavion. “We can walk on the sidewalk and be safe.”

In the unincorporated community of Northaven sidewalks are small asphalt paths that grass has consumed as the years pass.

Bea Daniels’ 7-year-old niece and 4-year-old nephew walk to school every morning.

“We don’t really have good sidewalks,” said Daniels, trea- surer of the Northaven Community Association. “So the little path that we do have, we need to keep it clear so they can make it to school OK.”

She said the children normally walk in groups, so she doesn’t worry about anyone hurting them, but she does worry about dangers in the environment.

“People have seen snakes in their yards,” she said. “If we clean up and keep the grass low, if there are snakes, at least they’ll see them.”

Janet Boscarino, executive director and secretary of Clean Memphis, said Shelby County

workers mowed the paths and the volunteers clipped back trees branches and picked up trash.

“A lot of neighborhood kids have a lot of challenges and distractions on the way home, whether it be boarded-up houses, people trying to get them to do things that they shouldn’t, or debris,” Boscarino said. “This is about the community coming together to address all those issues.”

Marquavion said he and his 7-year-old sister had to walk in the street when going to school because of puddles, trash and trees.

“People always walk in the streets, and they never get hit,” he said. “I was never scared (to walk in the street), but I knew it wasn’t safe.”

Adri a ne Glover, Northaven Elementary intervention specialist, said about half of the nearly 420 students walk to school.

“If we build a stronger community, we’ll have more successful students coming to school,” Glover said. “That’s why these efforts are so important to us.”

MIKE MAPLE/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Daniel Kemp and his daughter Jacey Kemp, 7, were among those volunteering Saturday at the Northaven Community Center to clean up the neighborhood. The goal of the event, organized by Clean Memphis,was to clear the walkways for the local schoolchildren...