Samoset bands together with community to clean up street

Wearing a neon vest, Ava Ebling held a white trash bag in her left hand and a trash grabber in her right as she walked down 34th Avenue East in Samoset.

The 13-year-old Braden River Middle School student along with about 20 other women from Woodland Community Church’s Project B-Town cleaned up the street, picking up trash and recyclables, in Samoset on Thursday morning.

“We came all the way out here to help them,” Ebling said. “It’s a benefit that we get to help them.”

Recently, the Samoset Neighborhood Association, which was organized in May 2016, adopted 34th Avenue East beginning at 15th Street East as part of the Adopt-a-Road program.

“Since we are already trying to revitalize Samoset because it’s one of the oldest communities in Bradenton, why not keep it clean at the same time and have our own residents and the community help with that process,” said Taura Denis with the Samoset Neighborhood Association.

While Thursday was the first road clean-up, the neighborhood association will have to maintain the road quarterly, Denis said, adding that there are two annual large pick-ups for the entire county.

“The individual adopt-a-roads have to keep their area clean quarterly,” she said.

The Adopt-a-Road is one of a number of ongoing projects underway in Samoset as residents along with Manatee County work to revitalize one of the county’s oldest neighborhoods. Manatee County has allocated $420,000 of Community Development Block Grant funding for intersection improvements, which are currently underway, in Samoset.

“In Samoset, our roads are very narrow,” Denis said. “They have been for several years so they decided to widen the radius of the roads so it is safer for our community.”

A number of intersections in Samoset are getting improvements, which “consist of constructing a stormwater box and about 16 feet of pipe sticking out in any direction of a currently open ditch at the intersection,” said Tony Russo with Manatee County. The work should be completed by the end of September.

“The purpose of the improvement is to fill in the open ditches on the corners that currently have steep drop offs,” Russo said. “There are no stormwater improvements expected as a result of this work, just a very important safety improvement.”

For the women a part of Project B-Town, Thursday’s clean-up in Samoset was just one of a number of service projects they completed this week, according to 20-year-old Victoria Serra, a student at Bayside Community Church.

“We’re doing everything just to serve the community and love on our own community,” she said. “It’s fun knowing that we can create an impact here in town rather than going somewhere else.”

Booker Middle School student Abbey Holdway, 13, has been overwhelmed a lot with school so she wanted to come out and serve during summer break.

“B-Town is really fun, too,” she said. “We have great pastors. It’s a great way to share love.”

Participating in the Samoset road clean-up was a way for 13-year-old Sydney Graham, who goes to Out of Door Academy, to get closer to God.

“It helps me get to know other people’s situations and how to help them,” she said. “I feel like that’s what Jesus would have done.”

Part of being a Christian is serving others, said 14-year-old Olivia Bracewell, a student at Pine View School.

“When you serve, you get a feeling different than when you do something for yourself,” she said.

As the Samoset Neighborhood Association enters the second year of existence, Denis notes a number of initiatives, including the completion of the English class for Spanish residents, which will resume in the fall, and the cleaning of ditches and trimming of trees.

“I feel great,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of outreach projects.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Samoset bands together with community to clean up street."