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Volunteers Work To Build Park In Homewood

HOMEWOOD (KDKA) - Sometimes the best ideas come from unlikely sources, but one young man's idea is changing things in a corner of Homewood.

Hard at work first thing in the morning, a group of volunteers worked to transform two vacant lots. However, it was much more than removing rocks and planting flowers.

"We want to improve the safety of the street by putting more eyes on the street and having neighbors interact with each other more and we want to improve the overall perception not only of our street, but of the neighborhood of Homewood itself," Elwin Green from the Save Race Street Committee said.

The idea came from a 17-year-old senior at Obama Academy who brought some of his soccer teammates to help with the work.

"I learned a lot of things that you take for granted growing up and just things that I had that other people didn't really have and different ways that you can impact the neighborhood that you go to school with. Give the same kids you go to school with the opportunities you had," Daniel Denlinger said.

Things are just now starting to take shape to improve the appearance of a lot at the corner of Race and Collier Streets.

"Clearing it out and tilling it by hand. We're going to plant some grass in the back, a couple plants. Then we're going to bring the mulch out, plant perennials around the mulch, Make a nice little park so kids can just relax instead of having a rock-filled lot to go out and sit back and play games in," Denlinger said.

Funding for this project comes from the Love Your Block Program.

It is one of 21 projects being done this fall with each receiving $1,000 from Home Depot's Foundation for Supplies.

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