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TEAM SWEEP: A NEIGHBORHOOD TREASURE -

   A special crew, supervised by Forest Park Southeast resident, Karen Barbee and Jim Serritella, put a shine on the vacant "wedge" property at the corner of Manchester Road and Kingshighway Boulevard. Working in the cooler, evening hours, the Team Sweep group hauled away bag after bag of trash and cleared the way for the weed whacking and mowing that followed. After the event, the crews converged on the Adams School playground for a festive barbecue - complete with cooling fountain and pool, hot dogs, chips, soda and ice cream provided by Team Sweep sponsors.

Team Sweep co-founders Serritella and Carole Rulo, a former neighborhood stabilization officer, began the project in 1994 with just four youngsters on the 4300 block of Swan Avenue. The group's establishment was an important follow-up activity to block organization undertaken by several local residents. Jim provided the hands-on supervision and the after-effort treat, while the children cut grass and cleaned gangways between the buildings up and down the block.

   The Wedge Group (a business association in FPSE) made a $500 start-up donation to the Team Sweep volunteers. The Association's contribution enabled the group to buy matching, bright yellow T-shirts that identify the crew, along with tools, tickets to Six Flags, trips to Pizza Hut, movies and other in-kind "payment" for increasingly visible projects. Team Sweep soon spread to the 4200 block of Norfolk under the direction of resident Edna Campbell. Regular block and alley cleanups soon followed.

   "Team Sweep is more than a quick fix for a littered street or alley," stresses Campbell. "Participation in the positive activities of the group enables youngsters to take pride in and ownership of their surroundings - it empowers them in a meaningful way. Because the group is resident-based and resident-operated, it brings the block together".

Team Sweep recently made its debut north of Manchester Road. Teams in that area captained by residents Sue Lauritsen and Dexter Silvers, who share supervisory duties on opposite ends of the neighborhood.

Team Sweep has added the responsibility of delivering the monthly newsletter of the WUMC Community revitalization Program to its activities. "It makes good sense to involve the kids", says Suzanne Goodman, Program manager. "They are fast, efficient, and well-supervised. This is a neighborhood newsletter and all area residents have a stake in it. Besides, I love treating them to pizza and movies at the end of their job. Team Sweep is a neighborhood treasure!"