“To whom much is given, much will be expecTed.”
This year, in order to commemorate the life and legacy of the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, we
decided to spend a day that most took to rest, to go out and make a lasting impact in the Homestead
community. The City of Homestead’s Mayor’s Youth Council along with Life Point Church, The Keyes
Company, Councilwoman Jenifer Bailey, Councilwoman Patricia Fairclough, and Councilman Larry Roth
worked together to do our part for our City, by rehabbing the house of the oldest living member in the
Southwest District of Homestead. Together we scrapped, primed, painted and planted to beautify the
house of one our neighbors. It was essential to do such a project in order to show our community that it
doesn’t take much to make a difference. On that one day students, politicians and community agencies
put their titles aside and worked together as devoted Homestead citizens to make the life of one
resident a little better. With just a bit of elbow grease, good intensions and a few hours we were all able
to walk away from that service project knowing that we had made a lasting impression on someone’s
life.
Beautification of a neighborhood brings pride to the area and those that live on that block. They are
happy to call their street home. By embarking on this beautification project, we gave not only Ms. Smith
a sense of pride, but also those in the neighborhood a sense of pride. Showing that our community is
larger than street names, we improve the quality of life for all throughout out Homestead. By selecting
this project we were able to show Ms. Smith that she was more than just a number, but a valuable
member of our community who we treasure dearly. We hope to replicate this project in the future to
increase the sense of price through the city of Homestead.
We as a Council selected to participate in this beautification project on MLK Day Service to eliminate the
stigma that the Youth only care about themselves. We wanted to show our community that the future
of Homestead is in great hands and that we the youth of this city appreciate the opportunity to give
back and invest our time into our community, a place that we will one day inherit .We also wanted to
lend a helping hand to Ms. Smith since she is the oldest living resident in the Southwest District of
Homestead to show that we care deeply about our aging neighbors.
The gratitude we all felt after serving is a clear indicator that we were able to achieve our objective of
leading by example. In addition, Ms. Smith was so grateful for our help and the smile on her face after
our beautification project was just the icing on the
cake. On that day, students, councilmembers and
community agencies created a sense of community
that is still palpable to this day. We were so grateful
for the opportunity of being able to give back and
hope the cycle of doing good deeds continues in our
community. Not just with our youth council, but with
other groups and organizations here in the
Homestead community.
