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Volunteers cleaned neighborhoods, built beds for children and collected canned goods for the hungry. They donated bicycles to refugees, fed the homeless from food trucks and collected inspiring stories and scarves for women facing cancer.
Across Louisville, such projects and deeds during Mayor Greg Fischer’s seventh-annual Give A Day Week of Service amounted to more than 205,000 acts of volunteerism or compassion during the week that ended on April 22. That surpassed last year’s record of about 180,000 volunteers and acts of compassion.
Mayor Fischer, who started Give A Day in 2011 and has since expanded it to eight days that now occur as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival, said the turnout once again showed why Louisville has become known as a compassionate city that seeks to lift up all parts of the community.
“I am beyond grateful to every citizen, school, business and community group who helped make Louisville a better place during Give A Day week,” the Mayor said. “It’s inspiring to see the selfless service put forth by our community growing each year.”
Among the turnout this year: More than 19,000 joined the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community Wide Cleanups, removing litter and debris from neighborhoods, parks and schools. Dare to Care collected 30,500 pounds of food at local Kroger stores.
And 58,422 JCPS students and teachers – often entire schools and classes – again joined thousands more private and Catholic school students on service projects. WE Day’s walk of compassion drew about 3,250, mostly students who participated in service projects that collected personal care items, comprising nearly 20,000 hours of service.
Meantime, employees at local companies such as GE, Computershare and LG&E spread across the city for projects, joining Louisville Metro Government and local churches. Presbyterian Center USA brought 483 volunteers to assemble thousands of hygiene kits, while the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary sent nearly 500 volunteers on cleanups throughout Louisville.
The annual count is an estimate based on volunteers and groups who reported their work and acts of compassion, such as donated meals and other items. The success of Give A Day would not be possible without the support and coordination of Metro United Way, which matches volunteers with needy projects and organizations through the website, www.mygiveaday.com.
“Our hearts are filled with gratitude for everyone who gave time, talent, and treasure to improve our community this week,” said Theresa Reno-Weber, president and CEO of Metro United Way. “You inspire us to keep fighting each and every day for the education, financial independence and health of every person in the seven counties we serve. We know that, unfortunately, the need in our community does not last for only one week or one month – it’s here all year long. So, we invite you to continue working with us and making change by visiting metrounitedway.org and exploring ways to give, advocate and volunteer. This is how we live united!”
2018 Give A Day week of service — Notable Numbers:
30,500 – Pounds of food donated through Kroger and Dare to Care food drive
19,464 — Brightside volunteers who helped clean up Louisville
58,422 – JCPS students and teachers who participated in service projects
15,000 – Families served by personal hygiene items collected and distributed as part of WE Day
As part of Mayor Greg Fischer’s Give-A-Day week of volunteer service across the city of Louisville, the mayor himself was honored today with the unveiling of a mural at Nelson Hornbeck Park in Fairdale.
The mural is a birthday present from his sister Lynn, who provided the materials for the project through a gift to the Louisville Parks Foundation. Art students from Fairdale High School and Fairdale Community School designed and painted the mural.
“This is a fabulous partnership between the Louisville Parks Foundation, Fairdale High School art department, Fairdale Community School, and Council District 13,” said Vicki Welch, who represents the Fairdale area for the Louisville Metro Council.
“I truly appreciate Lucretia Moore, District 13 resident and Ramsey Middle School art teacher, who has stepped up to lead this project. Also, Mr. Gibbs Rounsavall, art teacher, and Kathy Blevins, Director of Fairdale Community School, were instrumental in getting this project coordinated. As a birthday gift to Mayor Fischer, his sister Lynn Fischer is also a valuable partner. A huge appreciation to all!”
“I was in search of something special for Greg’s big birthday in January,” Lynn Fischer said. “I then learned the Fairdale High School art class was working on a mural for the Nelson Hornbeck pool house, and the Louisville Parks Foundation needed the paint to bring their design to life. The more I thought about the pool house mural, it seemed a perfect gift to acknowledge Greg’s love for Louisville and commitment to our City values of health and life-long learning for all of our citizens. The ability to have the students and teachers paint the mural during Give A Day week was, no pun intended, icing on the cake!”
“We were very excited to partner on this project. Coordinating community resources and people to improve our parks and facilities is what we do,” said Louisville Parks Foundation CEO, Brooke Pardue. “We hope more people reach out to us for potential future projects.”
Thousands of Louisvillians will be volunteering and participating in acts of compassion — from neighborhood cleanups to donating canned foods for the hungry – as part of the Mayor’s annual Give A Day Week of Service, which kicks off Saturday.
Give A Day week, which runs April 14-22, has become the city’s annual showcase of compassion and service. Started in 2011 as a one-day call to serve others, it has extended to more than a week. Last year’s Give A Day Week produced a record 180,000 volunteers and acts of compassion. Mayor Greg Fischer said this year’s goal is to top that, with even more volunteers, donations and other good deeds.
Give A Day is also an official Kentucky Derby Festival event, and kicks off the festival season. Companies and organizations of all sizes will have employee teams in action, including Humana, LG&E, Brown-Forman, GE, UPS, Computershare and Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated. So will churches and community groups. Also participating will be students, who will be doing everything from collecting personal items for donation to cleaning neighborhoods. This year, every student from JCPS, Archdiocese and private schools will have the opportunity to participate in a kindness project.
The Mayor said there are countless ways to participate, such as donating food and personal items to the Ronald McDonald House, helping serve dinner to kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Kentuckiana and even donating a story of cancer survival to Hope Scarves, whose mission is to share scarves, stories and hope with women facing cancer.
“We have made compassion one of our city’s core values, with the aim to lift each other up as a community,” the Mayor said. “The Give A Day Week of Service is the time for Louisville to shine and build on its reputation as one of the most compassionate cities in America.”
The Mayor will start the week visiting a series of projects Saturday, including one of the largest, the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community Wide Cleanup. It takes place at locations across the city to help make Louisville a greener and cleaner community, by picking up litter and debris from neighborhoods, greenspaces and roadways.
Other weekend events include the annual Build a Bed on Saturday at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, a food truck event for the homeless and an Eastern Cemetery cleanup on Sunday.
Volunteers are still needed for projects of all kinds. To register, go to the website: www.mygiveaday.com and click on “volunteer for an existing project.” In addition, groups and individuals are urged to use the same website to report projects and good deeds they are doing on their own.
“We’re proud to support our community in solving problems through volunteer service all year round,” said Theresa Reno-Weber, president and CEO of Metro United Way. “As a part of that continuous work, we are excited to again serve as the backbone of Mayor’s Give A Day by connecting volunteers to meaningful opportunities to give back and address the needs of our neighbors. Connecting people with the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done is at the heart of what we do in our fight for the education, financial stability and health of every person in our seven-county region.”
The Mayor will also participate in the student-led WE Day Walk of Compassion through downtown as a Give A Day event on April 17. WE Day Kentucky, in partnership with WLKY, celebrates student service projects and invites the public to join thousands of students in a lunch-time walk, carrying signs of compassion.
“The Mayor’s Give A Day initiative is a great opportunity for our students and staff to make a difference in their schools and community,” said JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio. “I’m proud that 100 percent of our schools will once again be participating in this weeklong initiative – committing more than 1,100 days of service doing everything from cleaning up parks, playgrounds and roadways, to collecting food and toiletries for local food banks and shelters, to recognizing veterans and their families, among dozens of other projects. It says a lot about the culture of our schools and the commitment of our students and staff that they remain so dedicated to making an impact in their city.
In 2016, Mayor Greg Fischer created the Building Our Blocks (BOB) initiative as a cross-functional approach to make our neighborhoods clean, green and safe. BOB will begin its second full year on April 13. Last year, the BOB team, which includes many city agencies and community partners, visited seven different neighborhoods. This year, the team will concentrate four events specifically in one neighborhood—Russell.
“Building Our Blocks is the city’s way to deliver on-the-spot services and make a direct impact on residents’ quality of life,” Fischer said. “After reviewing our impact from last year’s events, we determined that we can see even more results if we give continuous focus on one neighborhood throughout the year. With significant investment and momentum in Russell right now, it is a great neighborhood for the BOB team to give longer term commitment to in 2018.”
Events will take place on April 13, June 8, August 10 and October 12. If needed, rain dates are planned for April 27, June 21, August 16 and October 26. Each event will be held from 1-4 p.m. and cover about six blocks of the neighborhood. On April 13, the BOB team will meet at the Oak & Acorn Intergenerational Center (631 S. 28th Street).
During BOB events, residents can expect a group of city employees, including LMPD officers, and community partners, walking the blocks and knocking on doors asking what services they can offer residents, listening and responding to neighborhood issues, and addressing property maintenance.
BOB has many city agencies and community partners participating in this year’s initiative—Brightside, Codes & Regulations, LMPD, Louisville Fire, Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville Water Company, MSD, Public Works, Resilience & Community Services, Vacant & Public Property Administration, New Directions Housing Corporation and Saving Sunny Inc., Park DuValle Community Health Center and OPI².
For more information on Building Our Blocks, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/building-our-blocks. If you are a community organization that can provide on-the-spot services and wants to join the BOB team, please e-mail Robin.Hawkins@louisvilleky.gov
Mayor Greg Fischer unveiled eleven new propane powered mowers that have replaced worn out gasoline mowers. The propane mowers will run cleaner, cheaper and quieter than gasoline mowers.
That will help achieve goals set in the mayor’s Sustain Louisville plan to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. Propane-powered mowers put out approximately 20 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline mowers. They also put out about 45 percent fewer carbon monoxide emissions, as well as fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which contribute to summertime ozone.
Five city departments responsible for mowing will receive the new propane mowers. That includes the Louisville Zoo, the Vacant Lots Division of Codes & Regulations, Metro Parks, Public Works, and the Metro Facilities Division. These departments manage grass growth on all city owned property as well as vacant and abandoned private properties.
The propane mowers, at $9,500 each, cost less than 3 percent more than gasoline mowers but will cost about 25 percent less to run based on March 2018 per gallon fuel prices of $2.39 for gasoline and $1.76 for propane. They were purchased and will be maintained by the Metro Fleet Division.
“The new mowers will quickly pay for themselves in terms of reduced fuel cost,” Mayor Fischer said. “And they’re not just better for the bottom line. They’re also better for our environment.”
Because the propane mowers run so much cleaner, city crews will be able to mow even on Air Quality Alert days, when people are asked not to use their gasoline mowers. Since city crews follow the same restriction, they have had to stop mowing multiple times per season during the air alerts. Now they’ll be able to keep cutting without unduly adding to the pollution problem.
Metro Fleet bought 11 propane mowers this year. That still leaves 68 gasoline-powered mowers in the city fleet. Plans call for buying more propane mowers in the future to replace gasoline mowers as they wear out.
“That will allow us to continue to make improvements in sustainability while also keeping our city looking good,” Mayor Fischer said.
Mayor Fischer, the Southwest Dream Team and Metro Council members were joined by local business owners and residents to unveil the 2018 edition of the South Points Scenic Area Map. It is the fourth rendition of the map, which has expanded its outreach year over year to include more local businesses and attractions, including this year, Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay.
Also new to this year’s map is an inaugural food district, called “Dine South Points,” which highlights the cultural eateries of the South Points Scenic Area, near Iroquois Park and south to Fairdale. Some new restaurants to be featured in the food district are: Vietnam Kitchen, Binh Phuoc Market, Cocoberry Pops, Shack in the Back BBQ, Golden Wall, La Riviera Maya, Sunergos Coffee and Vietnam Oriental Food Market.
The diverse range of businesses included in the map shines light on the wealth of cultural diversity that lies within the South Points Scenic Area. Louisville Metro and the Southwest Dream Team are proud to support these businesses and invite new businesses to consider participating in next year’s map.
“South and southwest Louisville continues to experience positive economic development, and is a tremendous source of pride for our entire community,” said Fischer. “The number of locally owned businesses and attractions continues to grow, with attractions serving residents and visitors from near and far.”
It is the mission of the Southwest Dream Team to promote economic development in south and southwest Louisville. The South Points Scenic Area was created in 2013 to promote the many tourism-related business and cultural and natural attractions that the area has to offer.
”The Southwest Dream Team is celebrating 10 years of continued efforts to make Southwest Louisville a healthier and more prosperous region of Louisville, and is currently in a strategic planning period,” says Vince Jarboe, President of the Southwest Dream Team. Jarboe also announced their recent hiring of an Executive Director, Charlotte Caldwell, who has extensive experience in nonprofits through her service as an AmeriCorps VISTA and volunteering on several committees for various nonprofits. “The Southwest Dream Team thanks the sponsors and Metro Council members who have been supporting us since the inception of the South Points Scenic Area.”
A mobile version of the map can be viewed at www.southpoints.org, and @SPScenicArea on Facebook and Twitter. For more information and to join the conversation visit www.swdreamteam.org, and follow @SWDT on Twitter to stay updated on the work of the Southwest Dream Team
After an extensive review of city programs and policies, Mayor Greg Fischer announced that Louisville Metro Government (LMG) is expanding its internal policies to better prevent and respond to child abuse in any youth-serving city program.
The Mayor ordered the review last spring, following abuse allegations related to the LMPD Explorer program. Noting at the time that Louisville Metro offers programs and partners with many local agencies on children and youth programming, he said a fresh perspective was important to strengthen city policies to ensure they are as comprehensive as possible.
Metro’s Department of Human Resources hired an outside agency, the McNary Group, to assess current youth-serving program policies in Louisville and to identify best practices.
All city employees are required to adhere to the city’s Code of Ordinances, which states, “Any Louisville Metro employee who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a child is abused shall immediately cause an oral or written report to be made in compliance with KRS 620.030.”
Some agencies had additional policies or practices based on their own program requirements, accreditation or agency oversight, the review found, but the policies varied, often based on program interactions with other entities, such as Jefferson County Public Schools.
McNary made four recommendations to enhance LMG’s commitment to prevent and appropriately respond to allegations of child abuse within government programs, and noted that the adoption of these recommendations “could set Louisville apart as a model and a leader among other cities.”
The recommendations:
- Create Comprehensive Youth Protection Personnel Policy
- Louisville Metro Government should create a comprehensive and holistic youth protection policy for all employees that includes best practices for employee screening, a code of conduct that elaborates on “duty to report” fundamentals, and explicit reporting procedures.
- Training for All Employees
- All employees should receive youth protection training that communicates a culture of zero tolerance and provides a platform to discuss cultural and systemic barriers to understanding and reporting child abuse. Training should define youth protection and child abuse, provide discussion of healthy boundaries, and reinforce the LMG Personnel Policy.
- Educational Campaign
- Efforts should be taken to regularly engage employees and to reinforce a policy and culture that will not tolerate child abuse, including an internal communications campaign and sharing of materials generated through a partnership with national or local organizations working to end child abuse.
- Specific and Relevant Departmental Code of Conduct
- LMG should convene a cross-functional team to further enhance program-and department-specific youth protection policies and practices, including accountability measures.
The next step will involve working with the McNary Group to implement their recommendations.
J.P. Hamm, Metro’s director of Human Resources, said work already is underway to establish a more comprehensive code of conduct and build an educational campaign around it.
Mayor Fischer thanked the McNary Group and Metro’s HR staff for its work, adding that while he believes the vast majority of LMG programs operate effectively and safely, implementation of the new policy will further ensure that all employees know what is required, and all children are safe.
“My concern has always been ensuring that children in our care are protected,” the Mayor said. “These additional safeguards should assure the community that we take the welfare of children seriously.”
