Workers remember 9/11 with day of service

Published 5:37 pm Saturday, September 8, 2018

Teams of AmeriCorps workers fanned out through the city Saturday with paint, rollers and brushes to mark street curbs.

The crews were repainting street numbers on city curbs to make the homes easier to find by first responders.

“We’re making the numbers easier to read by firefighters and police, so if they are called to the house they won’t have to stick their heads out through the car window to find the address,” said Tomer Hirschler, the leader of a team of workers repainting numbers on First East Street.

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Other crews were working on Levee Street, Pearl Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and along streets in the city’s Downtown Historic District.

Hirschler’s team was what he called a “B Team.”

“The ‘A Team’ came by earlier and painted the white strips along the curb. Now that it’s dry, we’re painting the numbers,” he said.

The work was part of AmeriCorps’ National Day of Service project in remembrance of 9/11.

The National Day of Service and Remembrance for 9/11 was passed by Congress in 2009.

Randy Alghawi, programs support team leader, said other AmeriCorps workers across the country were performing public service tasks to help veterans and first responders.

“We painted the number on the curbs six years ago,” he said. “But they’ve faded, so we’re going back to paint them again so the first responders can find the homes and make their response time quicker.”

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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