Cheers for Central Falls!!

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LOCAL NEWS
High school volunteers out in force clearing streets, sidewalks in Central Falls

Published: January 29, 2015 01:00 AM
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The Providence Journal /

By W. Zachary Malinowski

Journal Staff Writer

bmalinow@providencejournal.com

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — Volunteers from closed Central Falls High School were out in force on Wednesday digging out driveways and sidewalks for elderly and disabled residents in the state’s most densely populated city.

Mayor James A. Diossa came up with the plan to have high school students on the Community Emergency Response Team, CERT, hit the streets with snow shovels. Joshua Giraldo, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation, met 10 of the teenagers at the Central Falls Fire Department at 8 a.m. They started off with coffee and doughnuts before heading out to help those in need.

“We have been hitting the ground running,” Giraldo said. “These kids are awesome.”

Three of the high school students were on Cross Street clearing a path and driveway for an elderly woman who was stuck in her house. Alex Dominguez, Lesley McBurney and Laura Cuevas, all 17-year-old seniors, took the volunteer work seriously. They wore day-glow vests with the CERT logo.

“I want to give back to my community,” Cuevas said. “I want to help people who don’t have the ability to go outside.”

Added McBurney: “We can help people who have health problems.”

Since Central Falls emerged from federal bankruptcy in the fall of 2012, there has been an outpouring of support for the 19,400 residents in this city north of Providence. City officials raised $10,400 through crowdsourcing to buy artsy steel trash cans and recycling bins for Jenks Park, next door to Central Falls City Hall.

The city’s population is more than 61 percent Latino, and the young Hispanic population has been eager to run for political office and get more involved in turning around the 1.3-square-mile city. Many of them volunteer to help improve the city.

Diossa, who was elected mayor in a special election in December 2012, is the state’s youngest chief executive at just 29 years old.

He said he is impressed with residents’ willingness to chip in.

“We are seeing neighbors helping out their neighbors,” he said. “It’s much more different today. Our younger residents stand ready at all times.”