STOCKTON, Calif. — While many people left town for the holiday weekend, some community members in Stockton stayed behind to clean their neighborhood. It's a labor of love led by Zachary Hulsey.
Volunteer by volunteer, and with each piece of trash Saturday morning, Hulsey was cleaning his eastside Garden Acres community.
"We're just coming out here, having a good time," said Hulsey. "Enjoying the presence of one another while also helping the community."
For Hulsey, the weekend gathering was a way to help the community. For others, the gathering itself and the person behind it was motivational.
"It's inspiring," said Brad Johnston, who has lived in the neighborhood for 70 years. "We need younger faces, younger people, to say what this neighborhood needs... to make it right."
At the age of 17, Hulsey is just what Johnston says his community needs.
"I go to school in Linden," said Hulsey, who hopes to eventually study at the University of the Pacific, Sacramento State or UCLA. "I'm the founder of the chess club out there actually."
He practices chess on campus, but in life, the community is his chessboard and making positive moves is his favorite.
"I started a nonprofit when I was 16-years-old just to kind of help my community, engage them, unite them," said Hulsey. "That's kind of my only goal in life, is to just unite people. That's how we solve our major issues if we come together."
Family members say Hulsey's community-minded ambitions are nothing new.
"He's amazing," said Hulsey's mom, Jennifer Villegas. "Since he was young, he always was ... wanting to help."
That's why it was no surprise when Hulsey saw his neighborhood park one day, East Side Community Park, and got an idea.
"I've seen everything from lots of little beer caps... just paper too, I mean everything, glass," said Hulsey. "By cleaning this park, we're showing people that there's still hope and still people that care out there."
The type of grassroots care Hulsey showed by organizing the cleanup is just what Johnston has waited seven decades to see.
"It's always dirty, and these guys are cleaning it up, and like I said, this kid... he got people together to do it," said Johnston watching as volunteers filled at least 18 bags with trash. "I'm proud of him."
Now, because of Zachary and the local support, a better community can start to bloom. Hulsey says he is planning more community events across San Joaquin County in the future and hopes to use social media to spread the word and get more people involved.
"My main goal is to help people give back," said Hulsey. "If we use our divisions to unite us, we can get a lot farther than where we are now."
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