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Gibson Field gets spiffed up
By SEAN BARRON
YOUNGSTOWN
It might be hard to find motives more pure and straightforward than Michael Cappitte’s for wanting to spruce up a park and field on the city’s South Side.
“I hate to see the city look bad, and I want to turn it around,” the Chaney High School 10th-grader said during Tuesday’s cleanup of Gibson Field. “I hate when people put Youngstown down. It’s just a place to live with a bunch of good people.”
Michael was one of an estimated 100 youngsters and adults who took part in the four-hour collaborative effort at the park, off Gibson Street.
For years, Gibson Field has been the site of Little League and T-ball games. This weekend, it will be the location to register for flag-football teams.
Officials with eight regional Walmart stores, along with members of 100 Black Men of Greater Youngstown/Warren, the Youngstown city schools, Warriors Inc., Mahoning County High School and the Youngstown Parks and Recreation Department, took part in the project.
Michael, along with Sara Lee, pulled weeds and stacked dead branches and tendrils, discarded tires, a 15-inch TV and other trash, then helped place the refuse onto a parks-department truck for removal. Other participants cut and raked grass, used weed trimmers, pruned trees and cut down overgrowth.
Sara, a Chaney senior and Character Education Ambassador with the school, said this was her first of what she hopes will be similar community efforts.
The Character Education Project, a program in the Youngstown city schoolsp, works to instill in elementary- and middle- school-age youngsters the importance of showing respect, responsibility, kindness and other positive traits at school, home and in the community, she noted.
“The high school kids are doing a phenomenal job of demonstrating these character traits in the elementary schools,” said Jodi Johnson, manager of the project.
Also volunteering were 15 youngsters from Mahoning County High School, run by the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center, noted Kevin Jackson, sports director.
Beyond making the field and park look more appealing, the cleanup fosters in the young people a greater sense of pride and ownership, Jackson explained. Like most youngsters, those in JJC want a safe, clean place to participate in positive activities, he continued.
“Anything that needs done, these kids are doing,” Jackson said of the cleanup.
Also pleased with the park’s look was Youngstown Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th, who viewed Tuesday’s project as symbolic of Youngstown’s renaissance and part of an effort to eradicate blight in the city.
Such cleanups often create a positive domino effect — getting rid of eyesores leads to increased community pride, which creates a greater incentive for people to take better care of their properties and neighborhoods — Tarpley pointed out.
The 100 Black Men of Greater Youngstown/ Warren organization’s four pillars are mentoring, as well as an emphasis on education, health and wellness and economic development, noted M. Mike McNair and Dawud Abdullah, vice president and a member, respectively.
The cleanup incorporated all four, in part by providing an opportunity for participants to appreciate the environment, and to make greater use of the park more likely, Abdullah said.
Others helping were workers for Walmart, which gave a $2,500 grant and donated sports and lawn-care equipment to 100 Black Men, said Jake Gailey, manager of the Liberty Township store.
Walmart has a good relationship with the organization and sought to make a positive impact in the area, Gailey explained.
“We wanted to make sure the kids have a safe area,” he added. “We also wanted to make sure the park is not an eyesore for the community.”
Registration for flag-football teams for youngsters age 9 to 17 gets under way at 10 a.m. Saturday at the park. Those unable to go can call Warriors Inc. at (330) 783-5440.