Most of us think about volunteering in our community to “give back” to those who laid a foundation for our personal growth, cultural enrichment and the fun of meeting new people. To some it is just an aspiration but for Arkia Wade it is an inspiration.
Are you familiar with any of the following organizations?
A. Turner Station Conservation Teams
B. Turner Station Girl Scouts
C. Baltimore County Arts Guild
D. Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group
E. Dundalk Cares
If so, the members of all these community- based groups, know Arkia Wade well. As she states: her self- professed love of people, helping them, guiding them and partnering with them to make their community and the world a better place is her ultimate life mission.
A review of her inspiring ideas and accomplishments highlighting these organizations are uniquely innovative. For example, under her direction with the girl scouts, the troop participated in community greening events, visited with elderly neighbors and put smiles on the troops deploying and returning home through BWI airport bearing much deserved welcome home cookies.
In coordination with Dundalk Cares and the Turner Station Girl Scouts she has spearheaded the first Little Free Library in Turner Station. As a result, she is now lending her experience to her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.-Psi Phi Omega Chapter, to combine a food pantry with Little Free Libraries and place four of them in East Baltimore City. She has been instrumental in reviving Turner Station Conservation Teams monthly clean ups as well as working with Edie Brooks on the Chestnut Park revitalization project. As Arkia states: “ to make Turner Station beautiful again and instill a sense of pride in the community.”