Youth Get to the Point Day Community Service Event

July 12, 2017

Kathryn McCarthy, 22, is a student at Salem State University studying Early Childhood Education and Sociology. She was born and raised in Reading, Massachusetts. Kathryn is involved with the Student Education Association of Massachusetts as well as a nonprofit summer musical program in her town. In Kathryn’s free time she enjoying working with children, volunteering, and hanging out with her family and friends.

This April, Salem, Massachusetts’ Point Neighborhood came together to help clean up the Peabody Street Park. This event was held by the North Shore Community Development Coalition (North Shore CDC) and the City of Salem and Salem State University. North Shore CDC carries forward 40 years of collective experience and successful community investment on the North Shore, having reorganized as a regional community development organization in 2011. As the leading community development organization serving this area, North Shore CDC is able to bring that neighborhood development model into communities throughout that region.
Focusing on low-income and distressed neighborhoods in need of development, North Shore CDC invests strategically in real estate, in community and civic engagement and in quality, neighborhood-based programming in order to bring opportunity to low-income residents and improve quality of life in Salem, Gloucester, Peabody and Beverly, MA.
This particular event was something that really caught my eye has an act of kindness because it helped a lower income neighborhood that has less access to resources and funding to make their community a place that young people can flourish and grow. By having this event and bringing people together, you’re helping to make the neighborhood cleaner and safer as well as creating an opportunity for neighbors to perform an act of kindness and making those connections for the future of Salem.

According to the event’s organizers, around 100 people attended and in total they picked up 400 pounds of trash! “The event was a great success! We had around 100 people come out for Youth Get to the Point Day – a community engagement initiative centered around service and revitalizing Salem’s Point Neighborhood. These volunteers included children from local elementary-high schools, YouthBuild North Shore CDC students, and even local organizations like Peabody Essex Museum and Salem State University. It was a busy afternoon filled with meaningful work for the community and ended with prizes and a pizza party!”

Abbie Allenson, the Marketing & Development Manager, told me, “We are so proud of the community spirit from Youth Get to the Point Day volunteers! Together, we revitalized a neighborhood and taught a younger generation about the power of community service.”

Seeing others in my local community come together and give back to the greater Salem community was incredible and it truly was a great act of kindness.