The partnership between Hackett Middle School and the Lark Street BID to clean up Lark Street on Saturday, June 4th 2011 was a huge success! Around 20 people including; students, staff, teachers and parents from Hackett and Lark Street BID staff participated in this effort. Clean up took place in the Lark Street neighborhood between Washington and Madison avenues from Noon - 2pm. Participants helped clean the streets by sweeping, picking up litter, and weeding the tree beds. The City of Albany Department of General Services generously provided all the essential cleaning materials; brooms, shovels, garbage bags and green waste bags, etc.
After a hard day's work, popular ice-cream maker; Ben and Jerry's, were kind enough to treat all those involved to ice-cream cones.
Many of the Hackett Middle School volunteers are part of the Time Dollar Program which encourages student and family volunteerism, empowers the community and makes schools and neighborhoods stronger. Time Dollar participants give their personal time to help others. For every hour that a Hackett student or their parent volunteers in the school or on a community project, they will receive a Time Dollar. Time Dollars can then be used to receive a variety of goods and services from the Time Dollar store located on the main floor at Hackett Middle School. The store contains various items such as school supplies, backpacks, DVD players, basketballs, skateboards, and gift cards to local businesses. The Time Dollar program is based on a national model developed by Edgar Cahn, founder of the Time Dollar Institute. .
The Cleanup was organized in order to create positive relations between students and their families and the Lark Street business community.
