Below is a draft of a letter that the South Boston Youth Ambassadors plan to send to the South Boston Chamber of Commerce.
To: The South Boston Chamber of Commerce
From: The South Boston Youth Ambassadors
Re: October 10 Broadway Clean Up and Shopkeeper Litter Pledges
Dear Chamber Members,
Thank you for inviting us to share more information about our work. Here is one example. On Sunday, October 10, Youth Ambassadors participated in a Broadway littler clean-up spanning the Broadway T station to L Street. Additional participants included over 15 other South Boston residents (including Sister Susan Morris, members of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association and members of the neighborhood volunteer group Planet Southie).
As you know, we have been doing West and East Broadway beautification and clean-ups for quite some time. We are continually saddened and frustrated to see that as soon as we clean up a sidewalk, new trash appears a moment later. It feels especially sad when we see trash littering one of the tree beds that we have just worked to clean, weed, plant and mulch. We share this frustration at our weekly Youth Ambassadors meetings. At a recent meeting we wrote a simple pledge for shopkeepers to sign. The pledge states the following:
I pledge that I will take responsibility to remove the debris in front of my store.
We did not know what to expect from shopkeepers in response. While some of us were cleaning up the sidewalks on October 10, some of us visited each shop along West and East Broadway between the Broadway T station and L Street. We teamed up with adults (like Sister Susan) and entered each store. Once there, we explained what we were doing and politely asked if there was a manager available who might be able to sign the pledge. We were thrilled and surprised by the positive response. Employees at 43 stores signed the pledge. Please note that some stores have been unable to sign the pledge yet because they were not open that morning.* They are (in no particular order):
- Broadway Dunkin Donuts
- News Broadway
- Blue Tierra Chocolate Café
- Burger King
- Shell
- Shenanigans
- Figaro’s
- Bailey’s Too
- Café Broadway
- Queen Spa
- Schuberts
- Donut Donuts
- Hub Video
- The Playwright
- Drogan’s Ice Cold Beer
- Terrie’s Place
- Cranberry Café
- Rite Aid
- Boston Beer Garden
- Metro PCS
- Nick’s Pizza
- The Blackthorn
- 7-11
- Lee Chen’s
- McGoo’s Pizzeria
- Amsterdam Café
- Gaelic Day Spa Salon
- Three Clover Pizza
- Tedeschi’s
- Pat’s Trattoria
- South Boston Chinese
- Radio Shack
- Land of Pizza
- Gulf
- Doughboy Donuts
- District Six Police Station
- J & J Discount Mini Mart
- Kim’s Market
- Broadway Pizza
- Edible Arrangements
- Broadway Lock Co.
- Motivated Fitness
- Dewberry Dogs
Sincerely,
The South Boston Youth Ambassadors
* Any store wishing to make the pledge is welcome to email planetsouthie@gmail.com to do so and will then be added to the list.
