Led by three IMPACT! students (Ana, Nathalia, and Bess), the business enhancement project entitled “¡Revive! Port Richmond, store by store” took place this weekend in Port Richmond, Staten Island.

These 12 lovely people donated their Saturday afternoon to revamp a storefront on the main business corridor of Port Richmond in order to demonstrate the power of strong determination, a bucket of paint and some WD40.

With our yellow balloons, matching t-shirts, and glowing smiles we attracted a lot of attention from the locals and neighboring businesses. The goal of the event was to bring attention to simple changes shops can make to create a more welcoming environment.

For example, allowing shoppers to see inside stores from the street makes for easier window shopping and creates more opportunities for social interaction.

Big highlights for the day:

1. Getting to know the boys from Eye Openers, Youth Against Violence Organization.They were so sweet to laugh at my jokes!
2. Watching people stand amazed at the fact that we were all volunteering our time to shine up a store in need.
3. When all the folks from various community organizations contributed to the cause, especially Steve Inc., Eye Openers, Project Hospitality, Island Embroidery and Northfield Community LDC.

Above all, THANK YOU to the IMPACT program for giving me the opportunity to do this project! I’ll never forget it.

Bess McLaughlin