(From left) Maria Beall, beautification chair for the Manchester Alliance, Erin Phelps and Brandon Beall pick up trash during a neighborhood cleanup.
When Maria Beall sees trash on the ground, she picks it up with joy. “It’s your workout as well as keeping your community clean,” says Beall, a certified sports exercise physiologist. “Think about the lunges and squats.”
But there’s another reason she’s quick to pick up litter. “When people see trash, they’re more inclined to dump [more of] it,” she says. “When people see well-kept areas, they’re more inclined to keep it clean.”
Beall and her husband, Mike, recently moved to Richmond’s Manchester neighborhood. While walking their dog, she noticed someone had dumped a couch and a microwave in an alley, and she saw dirty diapers, fast-food wrappers and plastic bottles on the sidewalks. Beall was concerned about the impact on the environment, especially on the nearby James River.
As a new board member of the Manchester Alliance neighborhood association, Beall and the board decided to organize a regular cleanup to keep Manchester beautiful.
Beginning in March, volunteers began meeting at Legend Brewing Co. for a monthly Saturday-morning cleanup. Open to everyone, the effort has attracted 20 to 75 people monthly, with Legend donating many of the cleaning supplies and offering free refreshments afterwards.
(From left) Manchester Alliance board members Ann Kramer and David Bass
On a recent Saturday, volunteers wearing gloves and carrying trash bags and trash grabbers divided into smaller groups, and for two hours, dispersed across all parts of Manchester, from Cowardin Avenue to Hull Street and Commerce Road and along the James River.
“As every community is the sum total of the people who live and give to it, I have always found that getting involved with projects like this is a win-win,” says Ann Kramer, a professional counselor and coach, who moved to Manchester in 2019 and is also a Manchester Alliance board member. “I meet great people, and my community gets stronger.”
Working alongside Kramer is resident and fellow board member Khiem Tran. “We live, work and play here in Manchester, and we want to keep the neighborhood clean and in tip-top shape,” he says.
Due to the pandemic, the cleanup team is finding a lot of face masks discarded on the ground instead of being properly disposed of in trash cans. “Facial coverings are the new plastic bags,” Beall says.
Dave Gott, vice president of operations at Legend and a Manchester Alliance board member, helps with each cleanup, driving his truck to pick up trash bags when participants text him they are full.
“It’s a good way to give back to the community that supports us,” he says. “Patrons want a nice, clean neighborhood, and we can give them that.”
“I think the cleanup sends a message to new residents that Manchester is a community that cares,” Kramer adds. “This area is exploding in growth, with lots and lots of new people moving in each month, so we hope that the regular commitment to making sure Manchester’s streets are clean will be another reason why folks would choose Manchester as their new neighborhood.”
According to data from the CoStar Group, a leading provider of real estate information and analytics, Manchester has been one of the most actively developing neighborhoods in Richmond over the past two years. “Since the beginning of 2019, nearly 850 market-rate multifamily units have opened their doors in Manchester,” says CoStar Senior Market Analyst Mike Cobb Jr. “That has expanded the total number of market-rate units within the neighborhood by about 30% over that period.”
New businesses are also opening here, and some are monthly cleanup sponsors, including Dandelion Health Direct Primary Care. Family physician Joe Fields-Johnson says he opened his practice in Manchester “because of the critical need for primary care access in this neighborhood.”
Fields-Johnson says beautiful green spaces and clean neighborhoods are connected to positive health benefits.
“The cleanups are making a difference, and each month it seems like we’re getting a bit more ahead of it,” Kramer says. “When we first started, it was ridiculous the number of bags [we] picked up. Now it seems that we still pick up a good number of bags, but we’re making a dent and finding the area in general is looking much better.”
Beall is grateful to live in Manchester and appreciates how neighbors come together for the cleanups. “I like the sense of community,” she says. “I’m also hoping it inspires other neighborhoods, because we’re all in this together.”
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