Marathon Petroleum’s Detroit refinery organized a day of service to aid homeowners in the community. As a part of its Neighbors Helping Neighbors campaign, the company volunteers helped to provide much-needed home maintenance and repairs in the Boynton neighborhood.

The Detroit Youth Service Corps, sponsored by Marathon Petroleum’s Detroit refinery, started the summer youth program with an event in June and a second day of service in July.

In June, one of the addresses selected was home to two seniors who are brothers living together. One of the men was diagnosed with cancer and recently had a leg amputated. His brother is his primary caregiver. While the man was at a dialysis center for treatment, Marathon Petroleum employees and the youth program participants volunteered to clean up the pair’s backyard, removing a fallen tree, cutting the overgrown grass and disposing of the trash that had collected underneath the brush. The brothers were very appreciative that their backyard was once again manageable and a place where they could enjoy the outdoors.

In July, employees, interns and contractors from the Detroit refinery teamed up with the youth volunteers for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors event organized by the refinery to help 35 seniors in the Boynton neighborhood with yard work.

“We met one woman who said that despite battling cancer, she uses yard work as therapy,” said Whitney Walton, senior security specialist at the Detroit refinery. “She really appreciated the help in her yard and time to visit with neighbors and share stories. It was a great way to connect with the community.”

This is the second year for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program that aims to help seniors and those who have disabilities with landscaping projects and trash pickup.

The Detroit Youth Services Corps is a summer sub-program of the Wayne State University’s AmeriCorps Urban Safety program. The youth selected receive weekly workforce development training. Some of the youth participate in the onsite summer youth program at the Detroit refinery for a six-week program to learn about the department within the refinery. This year, the Detroit refinery committed $180,000 to continue the Detroit Youth Services Corps program.