Submitted by Kathy Garrett

On Saturday, March 29 the 15th annual Detroit Partnership Day brought together 75 Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation volunteers and 75 student volunteers from the University of Michigan for a day of raking, sweeping, garbage cleanup and woodchip spreading.  In total, more than 700 bags of waste were filled!  Check out Fenkell between Southfield and Evergreen, or Ramsay Park, or Grandville Avenue, or the Community Garden.  These four sites DP Day focused on in Grandmont Rosedale today look a lot better than they did  just last week.

The Detroit Partnership Day wasn’t just about clean-up, however.  A great deal of important community building also happened.  In fact, some of the relationships formed between the volunteers from Grandmont Rosedale and the U of M students on DP Day started several years ago.  Steve Niedzielski, a junior at U of M, first participated in DP Day when he was a freshman.  He returned again this year because he believes that “DP Day is a great opportunity to give back” to the community.  In fact, DP Day is the largest student run organization on the U of M campus.  Annie Chen, a sophomore majoring in economics, shares Steve’s enthusiasm for DP Day:  “I love Detroit.  I want to help any way that I can.”

For many resident volunteers, DP Day is an annual tradition.  Especially after such a long winter, it feels really good to get our community looking as good as it can.  Dedicated Rosedale Park volunteer Pam Weinstein’s particular favorite is the Community Garden.  She was there, as she has been for several years on DP Day, rake in hand, offering her guidance to the U of M students.  “They come and we put them to work.  About the only thing we’re lacking this year is warm weather.”  The chill didn’t turn many away though.  After all, we know our community is worth it.