Nine McKeesport residents will be honored as graduates of the ReClaim McKeesport program during a ceremony to be held Sept. 30 at the McKeesport Heritage Center.

This spring, the city partnered with GTECH Strategies of Pittsburgh to “reclaim” several vacant lots in the area and turn them into green space. GTECH supplied the ambassadors with micro-grants to help complete their projects.

“It’s important to acknowledge all of the work, physical and mental, that went into the program,” said Ellie King, project coordinator with GTECH. “Each of the ambassadors spent an incredible amount of time, energy and resources throughout this process,” she added.

Those to be honored at the graduation will be Kim Brownfield-Perkins, who created a flower garden in her neighborhood; Dana Jackson, who revitalized an old reservoir area in the 7th Ward; Rhonda Moorer, who turned a vacant lot into a parklike setting; Rochelle Williams, who created a “Noah’s Ark” park on Market Street; Julie Fleckenstein, who made a trail garden along the Great Allegheny Passage; Shari Leidig Holland, who built Little Free Library; Walt Yager, who rehabilitated a parklet; and Sharon Soles, who created a butterfly garden near the McKeesport Palisades.

Hank Gostkowski, who volunteered at most of the projects, will also be honored at the ceremony.

“As we’ve spent the past year together, we’ve all gotten to know each other and McKeesport in a very unique way and it provides us all an opportunity to celebrate that,” Ms. King said.

At the time of the graduation, all of the projects will be complete, said Ms. King. She added that all of the vacant lot projects will require some maintenance from the ambassadors and volunteers after the program ends.

In addition to the project ambassadors, nearly 260 volunteers put in a combined 1,158 hours of work on the nine sites.

“All of the ambassadors have exceeded our expectations and will be celebrated and the mayor of McKeesport [Michael Cherepko] will be honoring the ambassadors as well,” Ms. King said.

The graduation will include remarks from Mr. Cherepko and Andrew Butcher, executive director of GTECH, and a brief ceremony recognizing the ambassadors for their contributions. Ambassadors will also receive diplomas for completing the program, and there will be a gallery showcasing “before and after” pictures of the sites.

The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 30 at the McKeesport Heritage Center in Renziehausen Park, 1832 Arboretum Drive.

The event is invitation-only.

Details: https://gtechstrategies.org/projects/reclaim-mckeesport/.

Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

First Published: September 4, 2015, 4:00 a.m.