Baltimore Cleanup-Ric Lee-Facebook

Armed with brooms and trash bags, volunteers have marched into the streets of Baltimore, turning out in force to clean up “Charm City” after protests left shops damaged and debris in the streets. Nearly 3,000 people have signed up for impromptu events running through May 5.

“Let’s get together and help affected communities/businesses remove debris,” reads the description on the Baltimore clean-up effort Facebook page. “Bring heavy duty trash bags, gloves, brooms, dust pans, trash cans, containers, and anything else that would help.”

Local news reports show large groups of people, scattered around the city, already sweeping sidewalks and clearing streets.

The Facebook group has posted meeting locations and trash drop-off sites and has a spreadsheet of addresses that need to be cleaned up. It invites people to post links to groups heading up efforts and asks people to let them know of places in town that need volunteers.

Dozens of people have posted to the page offering to help — one man saying he’d bring his pickup truck within an hour, and offering to bring pizza, too.

Still other posts reflect Baltimoreans’ fierce prided in their city and loyalty to one another above all their differences.

“It’s a different Baltimore today, “ Ric Lee commented. He posted the photo above, showing his friends and himself joining the clean up. “We didn’t know each other. Now, we do.”

Baltimore-cleanup-rubble-Yosi Badie Facebook event
Photo by Yosi Badie, via Facebook event page

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