Summer in the City

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Category: Summer in the City 2008

Yeah, this year was pretty sweet

Following our enormous last daystravaganza this past Aug. 15, Summer in the City has officially gone into hibernation until 2009.

2008 was a huge year, as we (twice) broke our biggest-day-ever record, painted murals all over the place, built more Quikrete-and-bricks benches than we could count and all sorts of other stuff that you hopefully know about because you were there.

We're sure, though, that 2009 is going to be even bigger and betterer, and to ensure that we're going to be working diligently over the fall, winter and spring to scout out potential new carpool sites, figure out which T-shirt color will look best on us next year, send out your hours certificates and last day pictures (look for me on one of the ladders popping my SitC shirt Paul Pierce-style), and, of course, finalize our epic end-of-the-year video (who knows what that wacky Will McDowell will think of next?)

So in short: Thanks for a great year, come back next year, tell your friends (and enemies) about SitC, and stay in touch. On Facebook? Join our group!

P.S.: I'm sorry there weren't crepes at the last day. Blame Stephanie.

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Category: Summer in the City 2008

Come celebrate Summer in the City with us!

It's hard to believe another summer is coming to a close. It has been an amazing year -- more volunteers, bigger projects, new partners and leaders -- but it's not time to close the book on 2008 yet.

As has been our tradition since 2002, we will end the summer in style this Friday, and we need your help to make mark the end of a remarkable summer.

We have some great projects in store for the day: mural painting, demolition, the Summer in the City Olympics and more. But things will really get going when the volunteering ends.

Our end-of-summer celebration (consider this your formal invitation) will commence at 1 p.m. Friday at a newly renovated public park, replete with a signature mural, new playground equipment, trees, park benches and... a yellow brick road.

Even if you can't volunteer, even if you have no previous affiliation with Summer in the City, we'd love to see you there. The barbecue, sponsored by Great Lakes Electronics Recycling, will feature a ton of free food, Summer in the City giveaways and live music from Jam Society!

The celebration is at 14th and Marquette, near Detroit's New Center neighborhood. It's easy to get to from anywhere, so don't miss out!

See you soon!

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Category: Clark Park

Bright benches make Detroit brighter

I have been working with Summer in the City throughout the whole summer. Most days the work itself is rewarding, like seeing real progress in building a bench or bonding with a little kid. We don't always get to see, however, what lasting effect our work can have on the city. Those glimpses, while few and far between, are precious.

This last Friday, I was lucky enough to get one such glimpse. That day another leader, Liz, and I painted benches in Clark Park in Mexicantown with a group of volunteers. I was unhappy when we left four hours later. This is unusual; generally, Summer in the City is great at making Detroit look better when we leave. After spending our day painting benches bright colors, though, I wasn't convinced we had done that. Neither us leaders nor our volunteers were professional artists, so painting can be hard to make look nice at times. I was so frustrated.

That evening, however, my boyfriend Jeff and I went back to Mexicantown for dinner and drove past Clark Park. He had heard me talk about Summer in the City all summer but had never seen what we had done, so we stopped and I gave him a tour. I showed him benches we had made out of brick and recycled concrete a few weeks before, the walls we had painted a few weeks later, and then came around to our painted benches. On those same benches - the ones I had thought we hadn't done well enough for our beloved city - looked great. What's more, there were a bunch of families sitting on our rainbow of benches, talking and playing with their kids in the twilight. A few ochre benches, untouched by our brushes, were empty. The families had flocked to our brightly colored benches. Upon closer inspection, our benches really did look great. We had done something, again, that had made Detroit a little brighter.

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Category: Summer in the City 2008

Top 10 reasons to go to the last day celebration

10. It'll be your last chance to see Ben before he locks himself into his house for three months straight in an attempt to catch up on his sleep.
9. There may be a Neil Greenberg sighting. Who is Neil Greenberg? Exactly.
8. It's going to be the biggest day of Summer in the City EVERRRRRR.
7. The free Tigers tickets we're giving out will coincide exactly with a late-season surge by the team, and will end up being a really important, awesome game. (Barring that, the Tigers are awesome anyway).
6. You'll be able to truthfully say that you've done more good for the City of Detroit than its mayor.
5. You'll be able to brag about it to all of your friends.
4. Massive/awesome end-of-the-year group picture that you'll be able to savor and point yourself out on forever.
3. Free food.
2. Free passes to the newly renovated Detroit Institute of the Arts. Haven't been there yet? Me neither.
1. You need an excuse to get out of school/your job anyway.

Category: Summer in the City 2008

Carpooling is important part of the day

Every Friday while other Summer in the City staff members are meeting volunteers at carpool sites around Metro Detroit, I arrive early at sites to do prep work and get acquainted with the different projects. This is a great way for me to get filled in on the work we'll be doing that day and greet the volunteers when the first arrive. However there is one thing I miss out on: bonding in the car.

Aside from being environmentally friendly, carpooling with Summer in the City is a great way to get to know everyone. Although I don't get to meet at a carpool site in the morning, I have had a couple of opportunities to drive some volunteers back after the day, and these trips have been extremely fun and meaningful.

Earlier this summer, I drove four volunteers from the Groves High School site back after our Friday barbecue, and it was so cool to hear about their experiences and lives. For me, interacting with volunteers and staff is the highlight of the summer. There are so many people with such positive attitudes, diverse experiences, and great senses of humor. It's been really enjoyable to build relationships this summer and carpooling is one of the best ways to do it!

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There's a method to the painting madness

You might wonder why we here at Summer in the City choose a particular painting site. It really comes down to aesthetics and graffiti prevention. A site like Dixon Elementary School had hallway after hallway of boring primary colored locker sets with little else to brighten up the hallways. By adding our cityscape locker murals, it adds not only a much needed variety in color, but also creates a fun environment for the students to learn.

At a site like Phoenix Academy, graffiti - indoors and outside - is a problem administration battles on a constant basis. Adding colorful, yet simple designs like the Tetris murals to the walls acts as a effective deterrent against would-be vandals. Skeptics don't have to look far. Over the past weekend several blank walls outside that we have yet to start painting were tagged while all adjacent completed murals were left untouched.

It is important to remember that schools serve as integral parts of every community. Dixon runs programs for students ranging from kindergarten through seventh grade. Phoenix is an elementary and middle school, so many students spend their childhood schooling in one building. This is why it is important to make these schools as comfortable and fun as possible.

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Category: All Saints Neighborhood Centers

Summer in the City is great!

Hi. I'm Angela Maue. I learned about Summer in the City through my mom. She saw a write up in the newspaper about it and thought I would enjoy it. Boy was she right! I really enjoy going to Summer in the City during the week. It gives me something worthwhile to do. I have had so much fun!

Today my buddies and I had a lot of fun. I went on the tire swing first and then did some chalk. I saw some girls double dutching and I tried to do it. I am actually pretty good at it. The kids were well behaved. I made some lily pads and a rainbow with chalk.

Summer in the City is a great place to be! Thanks for creating this group to help others.

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Category: All Saints Neighborhood Centers

All Saints enriches volunteers and children

Countless games of tag, an All Saints original game of Princess and the Castle (La princesa y el castillo), and friendly bantering at the shaded benches while regaining our strength in the sweltering summer sun all are notable components of the typical Summer in the City experience. I have volunteered with this program on and off throughout my high school summers, and this summer has definitely been one of the most fun and enriching experiences of volunteer work I have ever participated in. Getting to spend the beautiful summer days in the largest and one of the most vibrant cities in Michigan with a variety of kids that all possess different personalities truly makes each day worthwhile.

From participating in the program regularly, I get to know that 7-year-old Karen loves to play tag and has professional hiding capabilities, Melody enjoys modeling and posing for pictures and Gabriela is the fastest runner and is rarely "It" during our routine games of tag.

The moment the cars have parked along the streets and we eagerly approach the All Saints Center to find a buddy, I cannot help but anticipate what the day will bring, though I am can be pretty sure it will include hanging out with my favorite group of girls. Getting to know the multitude of children in the program is a truly unique experience everyday. Besides, who doesn't want to soak up the sun and simultaneously improve their Spanish conversational skills during summer's dry-spell of not practicing verb conjugations each week?

Category: Garden Resource Program

A taste of gardening

On my first day volunteering at Summer in the City, I was given two choices: gardening at Vandalia Gardens or going to Glazer Elementary to tutor and play with children. I chose to garden in Detroit, as I figured I would try something new. After designating drivers, we took off for the gardens!

After arriving and introducing ourselves to the owner of the gardens, Mama Leslie, we received our instructions. Before beginning any type of garden work, we cleaned up the area around a park that was adjacent to the gardens. Then, the real work began. We started off pulling out weeds, and before we knew it, the area around the plant beds looked neat and clean. It was amazing how we had turned a piece of land that had been an eyesore to navigate through into visible pathways woven between the plant beds.

We set plants, which would later produce string beans, green beans, squash, cabbage and basically any other thinkable vegetable into several beds. The bed of spearmint smelled exceptionally good. During some break time, we got to get a taste of the mulberries from the Gardens' mulberry tree -- a very exciting and fulfilling adventure. The mulberries tasted sweet and were definitely refreshing.

Overall, I felt accomplished knowing I could help that particular neighborhood and the community while having fun. It was nice to have a different setting to volunteer in. Better yet, I got to taste and learn new things!

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Category: All Saints Neighborhood Centers

New opportunities at All Saints

So we are a little more than half way past the SITC summer and things are a changing. Last week was our final week of the Arts and Smarts program at Glazer Elementary and our tutoring/paint the lockers program at Dixon.

Over the past four-five weeks the volunteers from SITC had gotten to know some of the kids very well, and it was tough for some of us to leave them and move on to other projects.

Last Friday we took the kids from Glazer to Clark Park and for some of us the goodbye at the end of the day was tough. We will meet some of these same kids next year, and the bonds that were built between the volunteers and their buddies will last the test of time.

As sad as we all were at the end of last week, everyone was really excited on Tuesday and it showed. We had 42 volunteers at the Andover carpool site, one of the highest numbers I can remember. A lot of us headed over to All Saints Community Center; some of us nervous, most of us excited. The children at All Saints are just awesome. Even the most zealous SITC volunteer can't come close to matching their enthusiasm and energy. We could also tell how appreciative they were of us. Tuesday was our first day there and when we went back on Wednesday, the kids already had memorized many of our names!

The change of sites is one of the things I love most about Summer in the City. It gives the volunteers a chance to really explore Detroit. We have done projects all over Detroit: north, south, east, west, Belle Isle, everywhere. I venture to say that most of these volunteers had never been to Mexican Village before our field trip to Clark Park last Friday. Although they didn't get a chance to see everything this slice of Detroit had to offer, they at least got some initial impressions that may make them want to come back.

Unfortunately, we have only three weeks left for SITC this summer, but I'm sure that in no time we'll be once again forming friendships with the All Saints children just as we had done at Dixon and Glazer elementary schools.