Photos by Evie Carpenter and Madeline Pado
An army of more than 800 volunteers in blue shirts flooded Roosevelt Row Wednesday morning. Their mission: to revitalize and beautify the Roosevelt Row area in three hours.
Citigroup, HandsOn Greater Phoenix and Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation partnered for the revitalization project. Volunteers landscaped lots, painted murals, designed construction fences and built benches at five different downtown sites.
“What they’re going to do in three hours, we may have done in three years,” said Cindy Dach, acting director of the Roosevelt Row CDC.
Citigroup sponsors a number of volunteer projects, grants and contributions, and partners with organizations to help communities, Citigroup spokesman Rob Julavits said.
Citigroup contacted HandsOn Greater Phoenix, a local branch of the HandsOn Network, to do a community project while in Phoenix for the week celebrating nationally recognized employees, said Chris Helmuth, vice president of HandsOn Greater Phoenix. Citigroup had already worked on previous projects with HandsOn Network, whose mission is to create a positive change in the community.
Citigroup emphasizes giving back to communities throughout the nation, said Randy McDonald, the Citigroup chief state officer in Tuscon.
HandsOn Greater Phoenix approached Roosevelt Row CDC, a nonprofit also interested revitalizing downtown, with the idea of beautifying the area alongside Citigroup’s volunteers. The two Phoenix groups have worked together on projects for the past five years.
At the Growhouse, a block south of Roosevelt Street, HandsOn volunteer leader Ted Traxel directed a group in filling bench-shaped crates with rocks for aesthetic appeal. This was his first time volunteering with HandsOn, and he and other leaders had to attend training sessions prior to Wednesday.
“I’m an artist, and I like to be involved with the arts community,” Traxel said. “Art is a great way to share exciting ideas and build culture for the Phoenix area.”
Volunteers also cultivated the lot across from the Growhouse in preparation for the second Valley of the Sunflowers project. The Phoenix Union Bioscience High School will use the sunflower seeds for solar and biofuel projects this semester.
Local artists Tara Logsdon, Carrie Marill and Laura Spalding Best created mural outlines at various locations near Roosevelt Row prior to the event and volunteers filled them in upon arrival. The murals can be seen on Second and Garfield streets, Second and Roosevelt streets and Fourth and Roosevelt streets.
Bhavana Kalluri, a Citigroup senior vice president from Dallas, loves to paint and worked on the mural on Fourth and Roosevelt streets. She said she loves giving back to local communities.
“It’s a great opportunity because we are all caught up in work and Citi encourages us to give back,” Kallrui said.
Jeannie Finley, Citigroup senior project manager, said she enjoyed working on the mural.
“Bankers can be creative too,” Finley said. “This is to say thank you to Phoenix for hosting us this week.”
Best, also an exhibition manager at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, incorporated elements of the urban landscape in her painting. The mural, titled Centennial, resembles the Arizona state flag with seven Roosevelt Row utility poles in place of the rays of sunlight.
“It’s a wonderful project,” Best said. “I never worked before on a large scale community effort. To have a physical, visual imprint at the end of the day is great.”
Contact the reporter at alicia.m.canales@asu.edu
